V. 


THE   "PRACTICAL"    SERIES 


'THE 

LETTER-WRITER'S 
HANDBOOK 


BY 


JOHN    REXBURN 


CHICAGO 

BROWNE  &  HOWELL  COMPANY 
1914 


COPYRIGHT,     1914 
BY    BROWNE    &    HOWELL   COMPANY 


Published,  October,  1914 


Linsday-Schuetz  Co.,  Printers,  Chicago. 


Contents 


PART   I  —  Principles  of  Expression  in  Correspondence 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    WHAT  is  SAID  AND  How  IT  is  DONE  ...         3 

Introduction — Attention  to  the  general  scope  of  the  letter 

—  Attention  to  details  —  Treatment  of  the  subject  —  Busi- 
ness letters  —  Ordinary  and  social  letters. 

II    CONCISENESS 20 

Conciseness  is  not  curtness  —  The  social  letter  may  properly 
be  diffuse  —  Importance  of  paragraphs  —  Short  sentences: 
argument  for  and  against  —  Clear,  clean  sentences  — 
"Brevity  is  the  soul  of  wit." 

PART   II  —  Business  Correspondence 
I    IMPORTANCE  OF  GOOD  MECHANICAL  FORM    .        33 

Explanation  of  meaning  —  Margins,  spacing,  paragraphs 

—  Directness  —  Clearness  —  Dangers  from  dictation. 

II    MODE  OF  ADDRESS 42 

How  to  address  correspondents  —  Recognized  differences  in 
American  and  European  correspondence  —  How  to  close  a 
business  letter  —  Handwriting  and  signature  —  Marginal 
references,  enclosure,  etc. 

III  SUBJECT-MATTER 50 

Subject  of  letter  under  reply  —  Attention  to  inquiries  by 
correspondent  — Clear,  full,  concise  response  — The  writer's 
original  information  —  Ought  a  business  letter  to  be  re- 
stricted to  a  single  subject  ? 

IV  VARIOUS  STYLES 59 

The  letter  imparts  general  information  about  markets  — 
The  letter  deals  with  a  particular  subject  exclusively  —  The 
letter  is  somewhat  perfunctory  —  The  letter  is  instructive, 

—  The  letter  is  politely  mandatory  —  Bankers',  merchants', 
and  others'  styles. 

V    OBSTACLES  TO  BE  OVERCOME 68 

Tendency  to  be  too  lengthy  —  Faults  of  diction  —  Intrusion 
of  personality  —  Confusion  of  matter  —  Danger  of  being 
stilted  or  too  simple. 

PART   III  —  Public  Business 
I    OFFICIAL  CORRESPONDENCE 77 

Diplomatic  correspondence — To  cabinet  officers  and  others. 

II    CIVIL  AND  MUNICIPAL  SERVICE 86 

Borough  or  town  officials  —  Letters  to  county  officials  — 
Letters  to  state  officers. 

Ill    LETTERS  FOR  PUBLICATION 92 

Treatment  of  "copy"  —  A  letter  about  business  matters 
for  a  newspaper. 


vi  Contents 

PART   IV —  Social  Correspondence 

CHAPTER  PACK 

I    THE  FROTH  OF  SOCIETY 99 

Invitations  and  answers  —  Plans  for  social  meetings  — 
Correspondence  with  club  members  —  Correspondence 
generally. 

II    THE  PITFALLS  OF  SOCIAL  CORRESPONDENCE   .      106 

To  whom  are  you  writing  and  about  what?  —  The  form  of 
letters,  notes,  invitations,  and  answers  —  What  information 
to  impart  and  how  to  give  it  —  The  use  of  the  first  person, 
singular  or  plural,  marks  the  friendly  or  the  formal. 

III  LOVE  LETTERS 114 

An  elderly  man  falls  in  love  with  a  woman  of  comparable 
age  or  with  a  younger  one  —  A  young  man  expresses  his 
feelings  to  a  girl  of  appropriate  age  —  The  woman,  old  or 
young,  replies  —  The  old  and  new  styles  of  love  letters  — 
The  correspondence  develops  in  intenseness. 

IV  FRIENDLY  LETTERS 122 

Parents  to  children — Children  to  parents  and  older  relatives 

—  Correspondence  between  adult  relatives  and  connections 

—  Correspondence  between  youthful  relatives  and  connec- 
tions. 

V    FAMILIAR  LETTERS 132 

Correspondence  between  adult  acquaintances  —  Corre- 
spondence between  men  and  women  —  Correspondence 
between  college  chums  and  intimates  —  Correspondence 
between  school  boys  and  girls. 

PART  V—  The  Use  of  Words 
I    THE  RIGHT  WORD  IN  THE  RIGHT  PLACE      .      147 

The  right  word  varies  greatly  with  circumstances  —  The 
right  word  is  not  always  easy  to  pick  —  The  right  word  is 
like  a  keystone  —  The  right  keyword  and  then  the  others. 

II    THE  ELASTIC  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE    .     .     .     .      160 

The  word  adapted  to  a  special  use  —  The  word  of  today 
is  sometimes  not  that  of  our  grandfathers  —  The  use  of 
synonyms  —  The  use  of  the  dictionary,  etc. 

III  STYLE 176 

Definition — Contrast — The  right  style — The  wrong  style 

IV  FINISH 1 86 

Expression  —  Finish  as  applied  to  business  correspondence 

—  Finish  as  related  to  public  correspondence  —  Finish  as 
related  to  general  and  social  correspondence  —  Conclusion: 
admonitory. 

APPENDIX 

SPECIMEN  FORMS  AND  SUGGESTIONS 205 

INDEX 223 


PART  I 

PRINCIPLES  OF  EXPRESSION  IN 
CORRESPONDENCE 


THE  LETTER  WRITER'S 
HANDBOOK 

CHAPTER    I 

WHAT  is  SAID  AND  How  IT  is  DONE 

Introduction 

T  ETTER  writing  is  an  important  phase 
•  of  business  and  social  life.  Altogether 
too  many  people  seem  to  look  upon  letter 
writing  as  a  very  subordinate  department 
of  literature  —  as  an  "  accident,"  if  I  may 
be  permitted  to  use  the  word  here  —  of  that 
delightful  art  or  handicraft.  Letters  —  and 
especially  business  correspondence  —  are  de- 
clared to  be  governed  by  rules  and  princi- 
ples of  mechanical  and  artistic  construction 
entirely  different  from  those  which  should 
be  observed  by  writers  whose  purpose  is  to 
provide  for  our  entertainment  or  instruction 
the  longer,  more  important,  and  scholarly 
essay,  serious  magazine  article,  or  living 
book. 
/Such  persons  too  often  give  as  a  weak 


4'     f'fflf -Letter:  tenter's  Handbook 

excuse  for  a  short,  choppy  style,  the  declara- 
tion that  they  have  not  time  to  write  in 
any  other  way.  They  frequently  insist  that 
attention  to  composition  and  style  is  not  only 
unimportant  in  business  correspondence,  but 
is  entirely  out  of  place  therein.  This  should 
be  resented  by  all  as  a  grave  mistake.  If 
no  other  reason  were  to  be  given  for  that 
declaration  as  to  mistake,  it  would  be  quite 
sufficient  to  say  that  whatever  is  worth  doing 
at  all  is  worth  doing  well.  }N 

If  the  word  literature  has  now  come  to 
have  the  accepted  meaning  of  "  the  science 
of  letters,  literary  productions, "  its  founda- 
tion, littera,  equal  to  "  a  letter,"  in  the  Latin 
language  meant  both  the  symbol,  character 
of  the  alphabet,  and  a  written  message.  In 
other  words,  the  beginning  of  literature  was 
the  commencement  of  the  art  of  writing 
letters,  and  therefore  "  correspondence  "  is 
something  of  real  dignity  and  importance, 
deserving  treatment  as  such. 

Few  people,  and  least  of  all  busy  com- 
mercial men,  have  patience  with  letter 
writers  who  attempt  to  be  brief  at  the  ex- 
pense of  being  clear.  The  mistaken  writers 
are  also  too  apt  to  ignore  grammatical  rules 
in  their  effort  to  "  save  time  "  and  econo- 


What  is  Said  and  How  it  is  Done       5 

mize  words.  Let  it  be  noted  carefully  that 
in  both  the  last  two  sentences  I  have  im- 
plied my  doubt  as  to  such  efforts  being  suc- 
cessful. If  the  writer  of  a  letter  expresses 
himself  in  the  style  which  is  permissible  in 
a  cablegram,  it  very  often  results  that  time 
is  wasted  by  the  receiver  in  trying  to  solve 
the  puzzle  that  has  been  forced  upon  him, 
and  in  supplying  by  guesses  omitted  words 
that  are  absolutely  necessary  to  the  gram- 
matical and  rhetorical  construction.  In  a 
cablegram,  where  every  word,  including  ad- 
dress and  signature,  may  cost  from  fifteen 
cents  to  two  or  three  dollars,  the  receiver 
willingly  adapts  himself  to  the  needs  of 
economy;  but  no  good  reason  can  be  given 
when  such  economy  is  entirely  false,  as  it 
always  is  in  the  abbreviated  form  of  letters. 
Arthur  Schopenhauer  was  a  famous  Ger- 
man pessimistic  author,  who  died  in  1860. 
One  of  his  greatest  works  was  a  series  of 
essays  entitled  Parerga  und  Paralipomena. 
It  would  be  difficult  to  name  a  topic  of  art, 
philosophy,  science,  or  anything  else  that  is 
not  at  least  touched  upon  in  this  wonderful 
work.  Schopenhauer  was  a  stanch  upholder 
of  the  theory  that  no  effective  literary  work 
was  ever  done  for  money,  and  that  such 


6         The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

can  never  be  done.  Naturally  he  has  very 
little  use  for  the  business  man  or  for  cor- 
respondence which  has  for  its  sole  purpose 
the  making  of  money.  He  was  certainly 
a  demonstration  of  the  theory,  because  the 
only  compensation  he  received  for  this 
famous  work  was  ten  copies  of  the  printed 
work  itself.  If  it  is  of  any  service  to 
readers,  I  may  say  that  the  title  of  Scho- 
penhauer's great  work,  which  is  alluded  to, 
may  be  given  as  "  Additions  and  Omis- 
sions " ;  it  being  intended  to  convey  the  idea 
that  all  sorts  of  subjects  are  discussed. 

One  of  the  chapters  in  the  original  is 
entitled  Ueber  Schriftstellerei  und  Stil,  or 
"  Authorship  and  Style."  It  is  divided  in 
the  best  English  translation,  and  two  of  the 
parts  are  given  the  titles  "  On  Authorship  " 
and  u  On  Style."  In  that  portion  which 
discusses  Style,  Schopenhauer  writes  of  the 
crime  of  seeking  to  secure  brevity  at  the 
expense  of  clearness,  as  if  it  were  a  fault 
peculiar  to  those  whom  we  call  authors. 
That  is,  a  writer,  to  Schopenhauer,  meant 
the  literary  writer  only;  the  writer  of  busi- 
ness letters  would  probably  have  been  con- 
sidered quite  beneath  the  distinguished  Ger- 
man's notice.  Yet  every  criticism  he  makes 


What  is  Said  and  How  it  is  Done       ^ 

is  as  applicable  to  the  business  correspond- 
ent as  it  is  to  the  man  who  writes  books 
on  the  most  scholarly  subject.  "  By  omit- 
ting something  which  would  probably  have 
made  the  meaning  of  the  whole  sentence 
clear,  the  statement  is  turned  into  a  conun- 
drum. The  reader  tries  to  solve  the  riddle 
by  going  over  it  again  and  again."  I  think 
many  of  my  readers  will  agree  with  me 
when  I  say  that  this  applies  with  direct 
force  to  a  great  deal  of  business  correspond- 
ence. I  am  sure  that  will  be  the  opinion 
if  I  should  find  so  much  favor  in  the  eyes 
of  experienced  old  hands  at  business  corre- 
spondence as  to  induce  them  to  read  this 
book. 

i.   Attention  to  the  General  Scope  of  the 
I  Letter 

Since  there  are  so  many  different  kinds 
of  letters,  the  general  scope  must  vary  ac- 
cording to  the  nature  of  the  particular  cor- 
respondence. But  whatever  the  purpose  of 
a  letter  may  be,  and  no  matter  by  whom 
it  is  dictated  or  written,  it  should  be  reason- 
ably consistent  in  form  and  matter,  as  well 
as  in  the  treatment  of  the  subject.  (As  to 
form:  if  a  letter  is  not  in  the  best  form 


8         The  Letter  Writers  Handbook 

when  ready  to  mail,  burn  it.  If  you  are 
writing  to  a  college  president,  he  may  not 
notice  the  "  LL.D.  "  after  his  name  if  it  is 
put  there  in  due  form.  He  will  certainly 
notice  it  if  it  is  put  there  in  bad  form,  as 
with  a  period  between  the  two  "  L's."  If 
his  proper  titles  are  omitted  altogether,  in 
addressing  him  in  his  presidential  capacity, 
he  might  scorn  the  thought  that  he  had  no- 
ticed the  omission.^)  Nevertheless,  if  in  this 
respect  and  in  all  others  the  letter  is  not 
in  due  form,  burn  it.  uhe  principle  of  all 
successful  letter-writing  is  that  there  should 
be  absolutely  nothing  in  its  forms  to  draw 
the  attention  from  its  subject-matter.  This 
caution  applies  not  only  to  forms  of  eti- 
quette and  courtesy,  but  equally  to  gram- 
matical and  rhetorical  forms.\l  A  failure  in 
form  may  draw  the  attention  from  the  most 
important  idea  in  the  letter,  that  upon  which 
everything  else  depends.  This  is  a  sufficient 
reason  for  careful  study  of  "  due  form " 
in  all  letters.  In  business  there  are  reasons 
of  final  importance  for  all  letters.  Every 
business  letter  is  expected  to  become  part 
of  a  possible  extended  correspondence. 
What  may  seem  trivial  forms  are  long- 
tested  methods  of  making  the  connection  of 


What  is  Said  and  How  it  is  Done      9 

one  letter  with  another  in  the  plainest  and 
least  expensive  way.  Ignoring  such  tested 
forms  may  be  very  expensive  at  times.  It 
is  the  best  business,  of  course,  to  settle 
everything  "  out  of  court."  But  if  any  busi- 
ness transaction  is  forced  into  litigation,  the 
court's  decision  may  be  compelled  to  turn 
on  the  doubt  left  by  the  omission  to  men- 
tion a  date,  the  wrong  use  of  names,  or  any 
one  of  a  score  of  seemingly  trivial  "  matters 
of  form."  Due  form  is  determined,  first, 
by  courtesy  and  consideration  for  others. 
Nothing  is  more  necessary  than  this,  not 
even  self-defense.  Secondly,  due  form  is  a 
matter  of  self-defense.  If  self-defense,  it 
should  be  kept  below  the  surface.  Formal- 
ity ought  never  to  obtrude^  itself.  Ideas 
should  never  be  disguised  by  forms.  Forms 
should  be  used  only  to  make  it  sure  that 
ideas  have  the  best  dress  language,  in  all 
its  forms,  can  give  them. 

It  must  be  clear  to  all  who  have  had 
experience,  that  a  letter  should  be  intelligibly 
written,  no  matter  whether  it  is  the  serious 
communication  of  a  lawyer,  giving  informa- 
tion to  a  client,  or  to  an  associate  for  the 
purpose  of  discussing  the  way  to  conduct 
a  particular  case;  or  the  frivolous  note  of 


io       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

a  young  lady  who  is  writing  to  a  personal 
and  most  intimate  friend  to  tell  about  social 
affairs  and  the  latest  bit  of  permissible  gos- 
sip. In  its  general  scope  no  communication 
ought  ever  to  be  written  without  some 
reason,  and  to  setting  forth  that  reason  the 
best  effort  of  the  writer  should  be  given. 
It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  book  to  give 
attention  to  those  letters  which  are  written 
merely  from  a  sense  of  duty,  and  which, 
by  their  own  appearance,  make  that  duty 
appear  to  be  a  disagreeable  one.  There 
may  be  occasion  to  write  such  letters,  in- 
deed there  is  too  often  just  that  necessity; 
but  the  world  would  be  better  off  in  every 
way  were  such  written  communications  ban- 
ished from  human  affairs. 

The  scope  of  a  letter  should  properly 
mean  the  range  of  the  one  subject,  when 
it  is  so  restricted,  or  the  various  subjects 
if  more  than  one  is  considered.  It  is  un- 
pardonable, in  the  latter  case,  if  there  is 
confusion  from  letting  subjects  which  are  not 
related  jostle  one  another  in  the  same  para- 
graph. Furthermore,  the  way  in  which  the 
writer  addresses  his  correspondent  is  a 
feature  of  scope  which  deserves  attention. 
It  should  be  clear  to  all  that  the  tone  of  a 


What  is  Said  and  How  it  is  Done     n 

letter  written  to  a  university  president  by 
an  undergraduate  should  have  a  precision 
and  form  that  need  not  be  considered  when 
the  writer  is  addressing  a  familiar  classmate. 

2.    Attention  to  Details 

Until  we  come  to  the  intimate,  "  chummy  " 
note  of  the  warmest  friends,  details  are 
probably  of  about  as  much  importance  as 
is  the  special  subject-matter  of  the  letter. 
The  word  "  details/'  as  here  used,  of  course 
implies  two  things:  the  mechanical  arrange- 
ment of  a  letter,  and  the  precise  way  'in 
which  the  matter  is  to  be  treated  in  the  com- 
munication. In  a  certain  sense  the  former 
of  these  comes  within  the  scope  of  "  form," 
because  all  business  men  now  give  careful 
attention  to  the  system  which  they  require 
all  their  clerks  to  follow  in  arranging  the 
details  of  a  letter.  Practical  and  expe- 
rienced men  likewise  look  for  a  certain 
conformity  to  just  such  rules  in  the  letters 
they  receive  from  their  correspondents. 
There  is  good  reason  for  these  facts,  and 
for  the  expectation  of  business  men  that 
others  of  their  class  shall  show  a  reason- 
able measure  of  willingness  to  use  the  same 
or  similar  forms. 


12        The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

As  a  matter  of  economy  of  time  and 
labor,  attention  to  details  in  various  me- 
chanical ways  facilitates  the  preservation  of 
correspondence,  and  enables  the  busy  per- 
son promptly  to  turn  to  any  letter  which 
may  be  desired  for  reference.  It  is  not 
altogether  a  useless  repetition  of  what  has 
been  said  to  insist  that  your  correspondent 
has  a  right  to  a  full  measure  of  courtesy  in 
the  way  he  is  to  be  addressed,  and  in  the 
way  in  which  the  letter  is  to  be  phrased. 
The  brusqueness  which  characterizes  some 
business  letters  is  a  needless  violation  of 
both  "  form  "  and  "'details,"  and  should  be 
avoided. 

In  the  body  of  the  letter  "details  "  are  to 
be  treated  systematically  and  consistently,  so 
that  the  various  links  in  a  chain  of  corre- 
spondence (that  is,  the  numerous  letters 
which  enter  into  it)  may  properly  fit  into 
one  another,  and  the  sequence  of  statement, 
interrogation,  and  answer  be  preserved  har- 
moniously without  demanding  any  special 
effort  in  doing  so. 

3.    Treatment  of  the  Subject 

It  is  well  to  repeat  the  well-known  say- 
ing, that  whatever  is  worth  doing  at  all  is 


What  is  Said  and  How  it  is  Done     13 

worth  doing  well.  It  is  always  advisable, 
when  it  can  be  done,  to  restrict  each  busi- 
ness letter  to  one  subject.  This,  as  will  be 
made  clear  in  a  later  chapter,  helps  greatly 
to  facilitate  business,  not  only  as  to  the 
bearing  of  correspondence  upon  it,  but  in 
the  execution  of  details.  It  will  probably 
be  found  that  the  treatment  of  a  subject 
varies  greatly,  and  in  accordance  with  the 
familiarity  which  the  two  parties  in  the  cor- 
respondence have  with  the  particular  matter 
under  consideration. 

In  beginning  a  correspondence  the  subject 
cannot  be  treated  too  thoroughly  or  too 
explicitly.  If  the  first  letter  contains  an 
offer  to  sell  something,  it  is  manifest  that 
the  article  to  be  sold  should  be  fully  de- 
scribed, and  great  emphasis  laid  upon  the 
ability  of  the  person  who  makes  the  offer 
to  supply  that  article  upon  the  most  advan- 
tageous terms  —  price  and  credit  —  and 
with  exceptional  promptness.  Description 
will  be  as  elaborate  as  possible,  and  price- 
lists,  illustrated  catalogues,  and  any  other 
pertinent  literature  furnished. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  first  proposal  to 
buy  something  must  be  so  full,  as  to  de- 
tails, that  the  receiver  of  the  letter  cannot 


14       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

well  misunderstand  the  features  of  style, 
finish,  quantity,  price,  etc.  In  these  initial 
letters  of  such  a  correspondence  it  should 
be  the  aim  of  the  writer  to  avoid  scrupu- 
lously all  ambiguity;  and  this  requirement 
will  be  safely  accomplished  by  attention 
given  to  grammar  and  rhetoric,  as  well  as 
to  technical  matters.  After  the  correspond- 
ence has  been  intelligently  established,  con- 
ciseness may  be  carried  to  an  extent  which 
previously  would  have  been  hazardous. 

If  I  were  writing  to  a  shoe-manufacturer 
from  whom  I  contemplated  ordering  exten- 
sively, but  with  whom  I  had  never  before 
corresponded,  I  should  consider  it  my  duty 
to  be  over-explicit,  even  at  the  risk  of  pro- 
voking his  mirth  at  my  seeming  lack  of 
familiarity  with  the  shoe-trade,  or  at  the 
apparent  imputation  I  put  upon  his  intelli- 
gence. But  after  business  relations  had  been 
established  between  us,  by  the  giving  and 
filling  of  several  orders,  I  should  feel  that 
I  might  be  so  technical  and  laconic  as  to 
write:  "  Please  quote,  240,  Nos.  noo  to 
1119,  equal. "  I  should  know  there  was  no 
danger  of  misunderstanding  or  complication. 
Shoes  are  sold  by  pairs:  therefore  240  means 
that  number  of  pairs:  the  manufacturer's 


What  is  Said  and  How  it  is  Done     15 

price-list  is  arranged  very  precisely  by  num- 
bers which  identify  kind,  quality,  size,  etc., 
by  those  numbers;  therefore  I  wish  from 
number  noo  to  number  1119,  inclusive, 
and  an  equal  number  of  pairs  of  each  of 
those  catalogue  numbers. 

4.    Business  Letters 

No  two  commercial  men  will  probably 
agree  in  drawing  up  a  fixed  code  of  rules 
for  governing  the  way  to  write  all  business 
letters,  when  we  include  in  such  a  code  form, 
style,  details,  technicalities,  and  all  that  goes 
to  make  up  such  a  letter.  There  cannot, 
therefore,  be  any  absolute  standard  estab- 
lished ;  yet  a  few  cautionary  remarks  may  be 
safely  made. 

It  is  of  the  greatest  importance  that  the 
business  man  should  know  what  he  wishes 
to  say,  and  to  have  some  idea  as  to  how  he 
will  say  it.  To  get  this  essential  knowledge, 
there  ought  to  be  a  preliminary  considera- 
tion of  the  subject,  details,  and  —  most  of 
all  —  of  the  correspondent  himself.  Tastes 
differ  widely  in  this  matter  of  business  cor- 
respondence, and  this  divergence  of  taste 
should  be  carefully  considered. 

If   one   correspondent  likes   to   have   his 


1 6       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

letters  answered  in  a  dignified  and  graceful 
manner,  with  special  attention  given  to  titles 
of  courtesy  or  respect,  while  another  pre- 
fers conciseness  which  almost  amounts  to 
bluntness,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  considerate 
letter-writer  to  respect  these  idiosyncrasies, 
even  though  they  may  seem  to  him  to  be 
unpardonably  eccentric. 

Personally,  I  should  try  to  avoid  the  ex- 
treme of  the  second  type  that  has  been  men- 
tioned unless  I  knew  I  was  dealing  with  a 
business  man  of  such  strength  of  character 
and  determination  that  he  would  be  called 
obstinate,  were  he  exactly  described  without 
regard  to  the  impropriety  of  calling  names. 

It  will  be  noticed  by  those  who  have  the 
opportunity  to  read  business  letters  of  many 
kinds,  that  the  frequent  use  of  cipher  codes 
by  those  engaged  in  foreign  commerce,  or 
in  domestic  trade  when  this  calls  for  con- 
siderable use  of  the  telegraph,  will  exert  a 
tendency  towards  the  use  of  terseness  in 
written  letters  that  is  somewhat  similar  to 
telegraphic  correspondence.  Admirable  and 
imperative  as  is  this  economy  of  words  when 
using  the  wires,  it  may  easily  be  carried  to 
an  improper  extreme  in  letters,  unless  the 
writer  keeps  careful  watch  over  himself. 


What  Is  Said  and^How  it  is  Done     17 


5.    Ordinary  and  Social  Letters 

In  these  the  code  of  rules  is  so  flexible 
as  almost  to  forbid  giving  advice  or  even 
offering  a  suggestion.  In  the  letters  which 
pass  between  relatives  and  intimate  friends 
the  peculiarities  of  the  correspondent  will 
be  carefully  considered  by  the  writer.  If 
the  relative  or  friend  likes  to  be  addressed 
in  a  familiar  way,  and  to  have  the  matter 
of  the  letter  treated  with  diffuseness,  his 
taste  may  properly  be  gratified. 

I  am  probably  not  at  all  singular  or  unique 
in  numbering  among  my  relatives  and  ac- 
quaintances with  whom  I  correspond  some 
who  are  not  satisfied  with  a  letter  that  does 
not  go  into  the  most  minute  particulars  of 
my  family  life  and  my  own,  whether  we  are 
quietly  at  home,  or  traveling  in  our  own 
country  or  abroad.  These  correspondents 
wish  to  be  told  of  our  daily  occupations, 
tasks,  and  pleasures ;  what  we  eat,  what  we 
wear,  what  we  read,  and  so  on  through  the 
whole  range  of  our  intercourse,  whether 
with  one  another  or  with  relatives  and 
friends,  as  well  as  that  with  strangers. 
Other  correspondents  would  be  bored  to 


1 8       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

death  by  all  these  trivial  details,  and  they 
are  content  to  be  told  that  we  are  well,  or, 
if  the  opposite  be  unfortunately  the  case, 
what  the  ailment  may  be  and  its  character, 
whether  serious  or  mild. 

It  is  but  right  to  consider  the  whims  of 
those  with  whom  we  carry  on  a  correspond- 
ence. If  they  adopt  the  interrogative  style 
and  make  their  letters  a  battery  of  ques- 
tions, it  is  reasonable  to  assume  that,  hav- 
ing answered  their  questions,  they  would  like 
to  be  similarly  interrogated.  The  same 
things,  in  reason,  may  be  said  of  social  let- 
ters, although  this  class  of  correspondence 
is  generally  restricted  to  brief  and  concrete 
notes.  Yet  whatever  may  be  the  character 
of  the  letter  or  note  in  these  respects,  it  is 
but  graceful  and  courteous  that  the  bounds 
of  propriety  should  never  be  overstepped. 
If  our  language  is  permitted  to  be  so  friendly 
and  familiar  that  the  occasional  use  of  slang 
is  tolerated,  it  should  never  by  any  chance 
be  allowed  to  become  vulgar.  It  is  safe  to 
say  that  those  who  are  blessed  with  good 
taste  in  other  matters  will  display  the  same 
praiseworthy  trait  in  their  correspondence; 
while  those  whose  instincts  lead  them  to 
disobey  the  unwritten  laws  of  propriety  at 


is  Said  and  How  it  is  Done     19 

any   time   will   not   listen   to    advice   in   the 
matter  of  social  correspondence. 

There  is  one  recommendation  that  should 
be  given  here :  which  is  to  treat  the  friend- 
liest of  letters  in  somewhat  the  same  way 
that  the  good  business  man  does  his  cor- 
respondence. Read  each  letter  carefully, 
and  see  that  every  question  is  answered  in 
the  reply.  Every  request  for  information 
should  be  responded  to,  if  this  can  be  done 
with  reasonable  ease  and  entire  propriety. 
Impudent  questions  deserve  a  snub,  no  mat- 
ter what  the  nature  of  the  correspondence 
may  be. 


CHAPTER    II 

CONCISENESS 
i.    Conciseness  is  not  Curtness 


definitions  which  are  ap- 
plicable to  these  two  words  are: 
"  Conciseness:  expressing  much  in  a  few 
words;  condensed;  brief  and  compact;  — 
used  of  style  in  writing  or  speaking."  But  he 
also  gives  this  caution,  quoted  from  Ben  Jon- 
son  :  u  The  concise  style,  which  expresseth  not 
enough,  but  leaves  somewhat  to  be  under- 
stood." Curt  is  short  or  brief  in  language; 
brief;  condensed;  especially,  short  to  a 
fault;  characterized  by  excessive  brevity; 
unduly  concise;  as,  curt  limits,  a  curt  an- 
swer. Yet,  again,  he  modifies  this  by  quot- 
ing Washington  Irving:  "  the  curt  yet  com- 
prehensive reply." 

All  authorities  on  composition  and  rhet- 
oric are  agreed  in  warning  writers  and 
speakers  against  confusing  the  two  quali- 
ties, conciseness  and  curtness.  The  former 
is  always  to  be  commended;  the  latter  is 


Conciseness  21 

always  to  be  condemned.  It  is  quite  suffi- 
cient to  say  concisely:  u  Please  come  with 
me  to  the  post-office/7  It  is  not  necessary 
to  load  down  the  sentence  with  a  lot  of 
superfluous  words  to  express  your  apprecia- 
tion of  the  favor  consent  will  confer,  and 
a  great  deal  more.  It  may  be  desirable  and 
courteous  to  give  a  reason  for  making  the 
request,  if  it  is  likely  to  cause  inconven- 
ience. Yet  the  reply  may  be  entirely  too 
concise,  if  it  is  expressed  rudely,  "  I  won't!  " 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  are  twice  as 
many  words  in  that  phrase  as  in  the  single 
word  "  No  ";  but  the  latter  may  be  spoken 
in  such  a  way  as  to  put  away  entirely  all 
impression  of  curtness. 

In  writing  business  letters,  it  is  always 
well  to  say  what  is  to  be  expressed  with  the 
minimum  of  words;  but  curtness  in  a  letter 
is,  if  possible,  more  offensive  than  in  speech. 
In  the  letter  this  rudeness  has  a  permanency 
which  does  not  obtain  in  the  spoken  words. 

2.     The  Social  Letter  may  properly  be 
Diffuse 

Diffuseness  is  practically  the  exact  oppo- 
site of  conciseness.  Yet  while  it  would  be 
almost  a  crime  for  a  person  to  send  a  dif- 


22        The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

fuse  letter  to  a  busy  man,  it  would  not  be 
at  all  out  of  place  for  a  student,  writing 
to  a  classmate,  or  one  society  leader  to  send 
to  her  intimate  friend,  a  letter  which  has 
hundreds  of  words  that  are  not  absolutely 
necessary,  and  many  wordy  expressions 
which  might  well  be  condemned  in  any  com- 
mercial or  official  correspondence.  In  the 
friendly  style  of  polite  correspondence  it  is 
seldom  right  to  be  over-concise.  This  type 
of  written  communication  is  a  good  deal  the 
same  as  the  conversation  of  the  drawing- 
room.  In  the  counting-room  or  bank-parlor 
the  monosyllables  "  yes  "  and  "  no  "  are 
most  popular:  time  and  breath  are  there  to 
be  saved  as  much  as  possible.  In  the  draw- 
ing-room those  same  words  might  often 
seem  to  be  offensively  curt.  It  is  the  same 
with  letters.  Some  of  the  most  delightful 
social  letters  of  recent  times  are  condemned 
by  "  practical "  men  simply  because  they 
take  a  score  of  words  to  express  what  might 
be  said  with  five.  Yet  artistically  those 
other  fifteen  words  may  not  be  absolutely 
redundant.  There  are  plenty  of  people  who 
can  make  a  few  pencil-strokes  on  a  piece 
of  paper,  and  nobody  would  hesitate  to  say 
that  they  suggest  a  house  with  a  tree  stand- 


Conciseness  23 

ing  beside  it,  and  the  branches  stretching 
over  the  house.  But  the  skilful  artist  who 
successfully  depicts  the  scene,  "  Under  the 
spreading  chestnut  tree  the  village  smithy 
stands,"  has  to  do  a  good  deal  more  than 
give  a  bald  outline.  Still,  even  the  social 
letter  must  never  be  prolix,  that  is,  so  diffuse 
as  to  become  tiresome.  Many  critics  declare 
unhesitatingly  that  the  entirely  successful 
social  letter  is  the  most  difficult  to  write, 
because  it  must  be  diffuse  enough  to  enter- 
tain and  yet  sufficiently  concise  to  avoid 
being  a  bore. 

3.    Importance  of  Paragraphs 

Paragraphs  lend  themselves  to  the  ac- 
complishment of  conciseness  and  clearness 
as  well  as  to  justifiable  diffuseness.  To  give 
a  concrete  illustration  of  this  importance. 
Suppose  that  Macaulay's  and  Lowell's  es- 
says were  printed  in  literal  succession,  page 
after  page,  without  any  divisions  or  separa- 
tions, and  no  other  arrangement  than  chron- 
ological order.  It  is  not  a  difficult  matter 
for  any  one  to  see,  with  the  mind's  eye,  what 
hopeless  confusion  would  result :  there  would 
be  lines  in  which  we  could  not  tell  whether 
it  was  the  Englishman  or  the  American  who 


24        The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

was  speaking.  The  sale  of  such  a  useless 
set  of  books,  it  is  needless  to  say,  would 
not  bring  in  returns  sufficient  to  pay  for  the 
printer's  ink! 

Now,  we  may  always  use  an  extreme  case, 
even  an  impossible  one,  by  way  of  illustra- 
tion, and  from  that  come  down  to  what  is 
fairly  common.  In  business  correspondence 
competent  writers  condemn  putting  into  the 
same  letter  matters  which  are  so  unrelated 
as  to  make  even  the  separate  paragraphs 
given  to  them  as  distinct  as  different  books  by 
one  and  the  same  author.  Such  precise  critics 
go  still  further,  and  would  separate  into  dif- 
ferent letters  topics  which  might  safely  be 
committed  to  neighboring  paragraphs. 

If  the  commendable  subdivision  into  sepa- 
rate letters  is  not  approved,  or  if  it  is  found 
to  be  impracticable,  there  can  be  no  dis- 
puting that  each  important  topic,  as  well  as 
each  distinct  subdivision  of  that  topic,  should 
have  its  own  paragraph.  Paragraphs  are 
one  of  the  most  effective  ways  to  economize 
the  reader's  attention,  and  that  is  the  pri- 
mary object  of  style.  Marginal  titles  and 
sub-titles  are  not  used  in  business  correspond- 
ence, as  they  are  in  some  books,  especially 
in  those  which  are  prepared  for  use  in 


Conciseness  25 

schools  and  colleges;  yet  many  business  men 
note  in  the  margin,  opposite  each  paragraph, 
a  word  or  two  to  direct  their  thoughts.  It 
need  not  be  stated  here  how  greatly  the 
careful  division  into  paragraphs  contributes 
to  this  excellent  system  of  annotating. 

4.    Short  Sentences:    Argument  for  and 
against 

Writers  of  guides  to  correspondence,  and 
of  books  which  tell  how  to  write  for  pub- 
lication, as  well  as  authors  of  text-books  on 
grammar,  composition,  rhetoric,  etc.,  are 
unanimous  in  advocating,  to  the  point  of 
commanding,  the  use  of  short  sentences. 
There  is  no  question  that  a  single  thought 
expressed  with  the  fewest  possible  words  in 
the  shortest  practicable  sentence  does  econo- 
mize the  reader's  attention,  and  in  business 
letters  that  is  the  first  consideration.  This 
form  also  gives  to  the  writer's  thought  a 
sledge-hammer  effect  in  getting  into  the 
brain  of  another  man.  Yet  if  you  turn  to 
Schopenhauer's  "  The  Art  of  Literature," 
Spencer's  "  Philosophy  of  Style,"  Arlo 
Bates's  "  Talks  on  Writing  English,"  and 
perhaps  any  other  book  that  is  appropriate, 
you  will  find  that  the  author  habitually  com- 


26       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

mits  the  very  fault  which  he  condemns. 
There  is  a  nervous,  jerky  style  of  writing 
which  expresses  the  writer's  thoughts  in 
short,  choppy  sentences  that  are  sometimes 
very  effective;  but  the  sentences  read  some- 
what as  a  certain  kind  of  music  —  staccato 
—  sounds,  and  is  seldom  pleasing,  never 
soothing.  It  is  not  a  graceful  style,  because 
in  literary  composition  grace  and  dignity  must 
be  attained  by  periods  of  some  length.  A 
"period  "  in  this  sense  means  all  the  words 
in  a  complete  expression,  from  one  full  stop 
to  the  next;  or,  in  other  words,  between 
the  punctuation  marks  called  periods.  In 
business  correspondence  the  short  sentence 
is  preferable  if  it  is  complete.  Let  the  sen- 
tence, then,  be  appropriate  to  the  style  of 
writing,  and  if  the  expression  of  the  thought 
is  not  clouded,  or  if  the  matter  is  not  stated 
in  an  involved  way,  do  not  be  afraid  of  a 
long  sentence.  Yet  always  remember  that 
there  is  reason  in  all  things. 

5.    Clear,  Clean  Sentences 

The  thought  that  is  to  be  expressed  must 
be  given  in  words  that  are  appropriate  and 
whose  meaning  is  clear.  In  business  letters 
preference  should  always  be  given  to  the 


Conciseness  27 

shorter  of  two  precise  synonyms,  because  it 
is  fair  to  assume  that  the  shorter  is  under- 
stood by  more  than  may  comprehend  the 
meaning  of  the  longer  word.  But  poly- 
syllables have  their  uses,  and  a  comprehen- 
sive vocabulary  is  a  valuable  asset  for  the 
strictest  business  correspondent. 

The  true  commercial  man  who  permits 
himself  to  use  metaphor,  hyperbole,  or  fig- 
ures of  speech  in  his  office  correspondence 
commits  an  unpardonable  mistake.  Clear- 
ness is  sacrificed  to  something  which  will 
usually  be  ridiculed  as  silly  pedantry.  The 
word  "  clear "  is  used  in  this  section  as 
synonymous  with  "  direct " :  there  is  a  cer- 
tain thing  to  be  said,  and  there  should  be 
but  one  way  to  say  it.  That  way  is  ac- 
complished by  using  simple  words  put  to- 
gether in  a  direct  expression,  so  that  the 
writer's  meaning  is  understood  at  once.  If 
there  is  any  possibility  that  your  correspond- 
ent may  have  to  re-read  a  single  sentence 
in  order  to  grasp  your  meaning,  the  letter 
is  not  clear,  and  the  doubtful  sentence  ought 
to  be  rewritten.  Or,  if  you  have  used  a 
figure  of  speech  in  which  words  have  a 
force  and  meaning  that  are  not  what  are 
commonly  given  them,  this  is  to  be  con- 


28        The  Letter  Writer' s  Handbook 

demned,  for  it  may  be  that  the  reader  will 
have  to  consult  a  dictionary  or  a  thesaurus 
in  order  to  understand  clearly  what  you 
mean.  Such  waste  of  time  is  inconsiderate. 
A  "  clean "  sentence  is  one  that  is  both 
complete  and  intelligible.  As  an  illustration 
of  what  a  "  clean-cut  "  sentence  is  noty  ref- 
erence may  be  made  to  the  bad  habit  of 
omitting  words  that  are  grammatically  neces- 
sary. "  Received  your  letter  of  loth.  Can't 
say  what  result  of  investigation  is."  This 
reads  something  like  a  telegram,  and  is  not 
clear  and  clean.  Conciseness  is  secured  at 
a  sacrifice  which  is  not  called  for  in  the  letter 
of  the  busiest  "  hustler  "  who  ever  lived. 

6.    "  Brevity  is  the  Soul  of  Wit " 

We  do  not  write  our  letters  as  we  ex- 
press a  riddle  or  perpetrate  a  joke.  Brevity 
in  this  connection  is  assumed  to  refer  to 
business  correspondence,  and  it  does  not  so 
much  mean  short,  perhaps  incomplete,  sen- 
tences as  it  does  a  brief  but  complete  letter. 

There  is  something  to  be  said,  and  the 
most  effective  and  easiest  way  to  say  it  is 
to  write  short,  clear  sentences,  and  when 
that  has  been  done,  stop.  The  business  man 
is  not  supposed  to  be  telling  a  story  to  a 


Conciseness  29 

circle  of  children  or  young  folks.  In  the 
tale  it  may  be  there  is  a  necessary  divergence 
from  the  main  theme  in  order  to  make  the 
listeners  understand  just  why  the  Prince 
found  it  advisable  to  disguise  himself  as  an 
did  woman  in  order  to  get  into  the  giant's 
castle.  Most  readers  will  remember  that 
"  The  Arabian  Nights  "  is  a  series  of  tales 
which  are  dependent  upon  one  another,  each 
—  towards  its  close  —  giving  excuse  for  the 
next.  The  first  is  not  actually  completed, 
because  when  the  end  of  that  story  comes, 
the  Sultan's  young  (and  latest)  wife  is  to 
have  her  head  chopped  off  in  order  to  pre- 
vent her  from  being  unfaithful  to  him. 
There  was  a  shrewd  purpose  in  dragging 
out  the  stories,  and  making  one  after  an- 
other of  them  seem  to  be  parentheses,  with- 
out ever  getting  back  to  and  completing  the 
original  one.  The  ruse  was  successful: 
after  a  thousand  and  one  nights,  the  Sul- 
tana was  proved  to  be  faithful  and  discreet! 
The  first  duty  of  the  business  man  is  to 
know  what  he  has  to  say;  the  second  is  to 
determine  how  to  express  himself;  and  the 
third  is  to  be  able  to  decide  just  when  he 
has  said  it  and  to  know  how  to  stop.  This 
is  the  way  in  which  the  quoted  proverb  ap- 


30       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

plies  to  business  correspondence.  At  the 
same  time  brevity  is  equally  the  soul  of  wit 
in  all  correspondence ;  only  brevity  here  has 
a  varying  meaning  as  it  is  applied  to  the 
different  types  of  letters. 


PART  II 
BUSINESS  CORRESPONDENCE 


CHAPTER    I 

IMPORTANCE  OF  GOOD  MECHANICAL  FORM 

i.    Explanation  of  Meaning 

T)Y  this  is  meant  the  way  of  writing  the 
•*~*  place,  the  date,  the  name  of  the  person, 
firm,  or  company  addressed,  and  other  de- 
tails at  the  beginning  of  a  letter.  At  the 
close  of  the  letter  good  mechanical  form  will 
be  secured  by  giving  attention  to  a  few  mat- 
ters which  will  be  mentioned  later.  Most 
business  men  now  have  their  letter-paper 
printed  with  the  full  post-office  address  in 
the  upper  right-hand  part  of  the  sheet.  In 
the  upper  left-hand  corner  there  is  often  a 
statement  of  the  profession  or  business 
specialty;  whether  the  number  of  the  post- 
office  box  should  be  given  with  the  place, 
at  the  right,  or  the  statement,  at  the  left, 
is  optional. 

The  term  "  business  men  "  as  used  in  this 
book  includes  incorporated  companies,  joint 
stock  companies,  partnerships,  individuals, 
'professional  men,  and  all  who  have  occa- 


34       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

sion  to  write  business  letters.  All  business 
men  now  have  their  letters  typewritten,  and 
preserve  a  carbon  copy  of  all  communica- 
tions. These  carbon  copies  are  then  filed 
away,  or  kept  in  a  binder.  In  order  to  be 
able  to  turn  quickly  to  a  particular  letter, 
each  is  given  a  number.  It  is  quite  cus- 
tomary, when  this  system  is  followed,  to 
give  at  the  head  of  the  letter  a  request  that 
this  number  shall  be  referred  to  when  reply- 
ing. The  position  given  to  such  a  request 
is  part  of  the  mechanical  form;  it  should 
not  be  too  conspicuous,  and  yet  it  must  be 
sufficiently  so  that  it  may  not  be  easily  over- 
looked. Perhaps  the  best  place  is  just  under 
the  date  line. 

Again,  the  closing  of  a  business  letter  is 
an  important  part  of  good  mechanical  form. 
In  the  United  States  a  certain  abruptness 
is  not  only  permitted  but  approved,  and 
when  the  correspondence  is  for  "  home " 
people  this  is  quite  satisfactory.  But  when 
a  business  man  begins  correspondence  with 
people  in  foreign  lands,  he  should  be  will- 
ing to  conform,  in  a  measure  certainly,  to 
the  customs  of  the  people  in  that  country. 


Importance  of  Good  Mechanical  Form     35 

2.     Margins,  Spacing,  Paragraphs 

Margins.  —  It  is  important  that  a  good 
margin  be  left  at  the  left-hand  side  of  busi- 
ness letters  in  order  that  the  entire  contents 
of  the  letter  may  be  easily  read  after  it  has 
been  filed  away.  The  right-hand  margin  is 
a  less  important  matter,  but  with  the  almost 
universal  use  of  the  typewriter  it  has  be- 
come customary  to  leave  more  space  here 
than  was  usually  done  in  the  days  of  pen- 
written  correspondence.  Many  business  men 
insist  upon  not  having  a  word  broken,  and 
part,  followed  by  a  hyphen,  allowed  to  ap- 
pear at  the  end  of  the  line,  the  remaining 
syllables  coming  in  the  next  line.  This  is 
a  plan  which  is  to  be  commended. 

Spacing.  —  The  typewriter  is  now  rarely 
adjusted  so  that  thet  space  between  lines  is 
so  narrow  as  to  make  reading  difficult;  but 
there  is  some  danger  that  a  person  who  uses 
a  pen  may  err  in  this  matter.  The  space  be- 
tween words  is  almost  fixed,  in  correspond- 
ence, by  the  mechanism  of  the  typewriting 
machine;  but  many  law-courts  require  this 
space  to  be  doubled. 

Paragraphs.  —  The  first  paragraph  of 
a  business  letter  is  generally  given  to  those 


36        The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

formal  expressions  which  refer  to  the  letter 
to  be  answered,  its  date,  contents,  etc.  The 
succeeding  parts  of  the  letter  are  carefully 
divided  into  paragraphs  so  that  each  subject 
and  each  important  subdivision  of  the  sub- 
ject may  have  its  own  paragraph.  The 
alignment  of  these  paragraphs,  so  that  each 
one  begins  at  the  same  distance  from  the 
left-hand  margin  as  the  others,  is  .important. 

3.    Directness 

This  is  a  very  important  matter;  and  its 
importance  is  of  two  kinds:  first,  to  avoid 
unnecessary  words  and  phrases;  second,  to 
avoid  being  abrupt.  In  former  times,  when 
it  was  not  a  rule  for  business  men  to  keep 
copies  of  the  letters  they  wrote,  and  to  file 
away  letters  received  from  their  correspond- 
ents, it  was  customary  to  quote  from  the 
letter  under  reply  something  in  this  way: 
'*  We  have  received  your  letter  of  the  loth 
ult.,  in  which  you  inquire  as  to,"  and  then 
give  a  resume  of  what  the  correspondent 
asked.  After  that  the  writer  gave  his  reply, 
and  if  he  could  do  so,  the  information  de- 
sired. This  custom  is  still  followed  by  many 
of  the  conservative  houses  of  Europe,  and 
it  has  not  been  absolutely  given  up  by  some 


Importance  of  Good  Mechanical  Form     37 

of  the  old-timers  in  the  United  States.  But 
it  is  hardly  necessary  now,  as  letters  may  be 
so  easily  referred  to  by  date  or  number. 
Therefore,  after  referring  to  the  date  of 
the  letter  under  reply,  and  to  its  identifica- 
tion number,  if  one  is  used,  let  the  impor- 
tant matter  receive  attention  at  once,  and 
allow  the  desired  information  to  be  given 
as  concisely  as  possible. 

It  is  probably  not  true,  as  some  rather 
cynical  persons  have  declared,  that  polite- 
ness is  a  lost  art  in  business  circles  today; 
but  it  is  certain  that  the  ordinary  business 
man  now  has  little  time  to  waste,  and  to 
such  a  one  it  does  seem  altogether  a  waste 
of  time  to  read  a  lot  of  mere  politeness, 
nor  does  such  a  man  feel  called  upon  to  put 
into  his  reply  any  unnecessary  compliments; 
there  is  a  thoroughly  polite  way  to  be  direct, 
and  yet  to  avoid  an  abruptness  which  is  dis- 
pleasing or  offensive.  In  the  days  of  our 
grandfathers,  when  trade  journals  were  not 
at  all  specialized,  and  when  newspapers  were 
not  so  common  as  now,  it  was  customary 
for  each  general  merchant  to  send  his  regu- 
lar correspondents  a  "  news-letter "  which 
went  over  the  whole  range  of  his  operation. 
Such  a  communication  would  be  considered 


38        The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

quite    out    of    place    in    a    business    letter 
nowadays. 

4.    Clearness 

This  is  a  feature  of  business  correspond- 
ence to  which  too  much  importance  cannot 
be  attached.  It  is  a  quality  which  may  be 
gained  in  two  ways,  by  education  or  by  prac- 
tise. Our  business  colleges  do  not,  as  a  rule, 
give  sufficient  attention  to  this  matter,  be- 
cause it  demands  a  knowledge  of  grammar, 
rhetoric,  and  composition  which  is  rarely 
gained  in  such  a  school.  Other  educational 
institutions  claim,  and  with  much  reason, 
that  they  are  training  students  to  be  of  use 
in  business,  industrial,  and  scientific  life,  but 
too  often  the  education  given  in  colleges 
and  universities  is  altogether  technical,  and 
the  important  matter  of  correspondence 
is  sadly  neglected.  Hence  it  is  generally 
admitted  that  the  knowledge  gained  by 
practise  is  the  best  to  secure  clearness  with 
conciseness. 

Every  business  man  who  wishes  to  have 
his  letters  impart  to  his  correspondents  pre- 
cisely what  he  has  in  mind,  nothing  less  and 
nothing  more,  should  give  a  few  minutes' 
careful  thought  to  what  he  is  going  to  say, 


Importance  of  Good  Mechanical  Form     39 

before  he  puts  pen  to  paper  or  summons  his 
stenographer  for  dictation.  Too  frequently 
does  haste  make  waste  of  time  and  energy, 
but  the  evil  goes  beyond  the  office  where 
the  letter  originates,  and  because  of  a  lack 
of  clearness  a  good  customer  may  be  lost. 
For  other  men  are  just  as  likely  to  be  busy 
as  is  the  writer  of  the  letter,  and  he  who 
receives  a  letter  that  is  not  clear  as  to  its 
meaning  is  pretty  sure  not  to  waste  much 
time  in  trying  to  make  out  what  it  was  the 
writer  intended  to  say. 

Topics.  —  Of  great  importance  in  gaining 
this  desired  end,  clearness,  is  ability  to  divide 
information  to  be  given  into  topics,  and  to 
discuss  each  one  as  briefly  and  clearly  as 
possible. 

5.    Dangers  from  Dictation 

Perhaps  the  greatest  of  these  is  the  ten- 
dency to  become  actually  dictatorial.  The 
association  between  the  business  man  and 
his  stenographer,  and  we  may  assume  that 
the  stenographer  is  also  the  typist,  is  very 
apt  to  induce  a  slight  feeling  of  amiable 
superiority;  so  that  the  active  business  man 
finds  himself,  so  to  speak,  writing  in  rather 
a  mandatory  way  to  his  stenographer  rather 


40        The  Letter  Writer' s  Handbook 

than  to  his  correspondent.  This  condition 
of  affairs  has  been  found  to  exist,  and  to 
work  mischief  when  the  busy  principal,  with 
whom  time  is  money,  allows  himself  to  get 
into  the  habit  of  feeling  that  his  part  of  the 
task  is  finished  when  the  letter  has  been  dic- 
tated. He  has  found  his  assistant  to  be  re- 
sponsible mechanically;  that  is,  the  stenog- 
rapher makes  no  mistakes  in  detail,  or  in 
general  phraseology,  or  in  understanding 
facts.  The  letters  are  copied,  the  mechan- 
ical details  have  been  satisfactorily  attended 
to,  and  the  business  man  merely  affixes  his 
signature  without  taking  the  time  to  read 
over  the  letter  carefully,  and,  while  doing 
so,  to  try  to  put  himself  in  the  position  of 
the  correspondent  to  whom  the  letter  is 
addressed.  Dictation  gives  its  best  results 
in  letters  which  may  be  disposed  of  in  a 
few  lines  each.  For  all  important  ones,  in 
which  ideas  ought  to  be  conveyed  from  the 
writer's  mind  to  that  of  his  correspondent 
with  the  least  possibility  of  failure  to  im- 
part precisely  what  is  intended,  and  without 
danger  of  friction,  it  is  most  desirable  that 
the  writer  himself  make  a  careful  pencil- 
draft  of  the  letter.  The  draft  is  then  typed 
by  his  assistant,  and,  if  necessary,  revised 


Importance  of  Good  Mechanical  Form     41 

by  himself  before  signing.  This  method, 
recommended  by  some  of  the  best  business- 
letter-writers,  is  one  which  has  been  largely 
responsible  for  their  ability,  simply  because 
of  this  excellent  practise. 


CHAPTER    II 

MODE  OF  ADDRESS 

i.    How  to  address  Correspondents 

T^VERY  individual,  firm,  or  corporation, 
•^  as  well  as  every  group  of  people  banded 
together  for  any  commercial  or  industrial 
purpose  which  makes  it  possible  that  letters 
will  be  written  to  that  group  officially,  is 
entitled  to  a  term  of  courtesy  or  respect, 
with  the  possible  exception  to  be  mentioned 
later  on.  I  have  known  some  admirable, 
polite,  and  experienced  business  men,  who 
could  not  be  charged  with  any  disposition 
to  hurt  the  feelings  of  others,  who  refused 
absolutely  to  use  any  such  term.  Their 
correspondents  were  simply  John  Smith,  or 
Smith,  Brown  and  Co.,  or  The  National 
Balloon  Co.  This  brusqueness  may  be  tol- 
erated, but  I  contend  that  it  is  improper. 
Other  men  of  experience  quite  as  wide  as 
the  haters  of  all  such  terms  of  courtesy  and 
respect,  support  me  entirely  in  my  conten- 
tion. The  consensus  of  opinion  is  so  en- 


Mode  of  Address  43 

tirely  with  me,  that  I  have  no  hesitation  in 
saying  that  any  business  man  who  wishes  to 
expand  his  operations  into  territories  be- 
yond our  own  borders  must  conform  to  this 
rule,  or  run  the  risk  of  having  his  letters 
ignored. 

Some  writers  say  that  so  long  as  we  can 
establish  the  personality  of  the  addressee, 
and  provided  there  is  no  danger  that  we 
may  be  writing  to  a  firm  or  company  in 
which  both  men  and  women  are  associated, 
we  may  use  a  title.  But  this  I  consider  wrong. 
The  same  rule  applies  in  these  cases  as  in 
laws,  legislative  enactments,  etc.,  '  The 
masculine  includes  the  feminine,  and  the 
singular  includes  the  plural ";  therefore, 
even  when  we  know  that  Thomas  Brown  and 
Mary  Robinson  and  William  Jenkins  are  in 
partnership  and  doing  business  under  the 
style  of  Brown,  Robinson  and  Co.,  it  is  en- 
tirely proper  to  address  the  firm  as  Messrs. 
Brown,  Robinson  and  Co.,  Dear  Sirs.  The 
same  reasoning  applies  to  corporations. 

2.    Recognized  Differences  in  American 
and  European  Correspondence 

These  are  conspicuous  in  several  aspects. 
First,  there  is  the  invariable  use  of  Mr.  or 


44        The  Letter  Writer* s  Handbook 

Messrs,  or  Esq.  Even  when  writing  to  such 
an  abstract  personality  as  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  Company,  the  Briton  (and  the 
Continental  European  as  well)  would,  it  is 
perfectly  safe  to  say  without  exception,  ad- 
dress that  corporation  as  Messrs.  The  Penn- 
sylvania Railroad  Company,  and  he  would 
not  only  be  polite,  but  he  would  be  con- 
sistent in  every  way.  Because,  if  we  think 
of  him  as  writing  to  the  officials  who  man- 
age the  affairs  of  that  company,  he  is  writ- 
ing to  a  number  of  "  Misters,"  and  custom, 
good  usage,  and  every  other  rule  of  polite 
correspondence  authorize  the  use  of  Messrs. 
I  decline  to  admit  that  the  form  Messrs. , 
the  abbreviation  of  the  French  Messieurs, 
is  un-English,  or  even  that  it  is  un-American. 
As  to  the  title  Mr.  or  Esq.,  the  abbrevia- 
tion of  Esquire,  there  is  wide  difference  in 
usage  on  the  two  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  In 
the  United  States  a  great  many  persons, 
to  whose  opinion  the  utmost  consideration 
should  be  given,  contend  that  Esq.  should 
be  limited  to  those  who  have  been  admitted 
to  practise  law  —  "  called  to  the  bar  "  is  the 
British  form  —  although  it  may  be  applied 
to  men  of  some  years  who  are  recognized 
as  of  importance  in  the  community.  It  is 


Mode  of  Address  45 

hardly  necessary  to  discuss  here  the  true 
meaning  and  origin  of  the  word  u  Esquire. " 
An  esquire  was  originally  an  attendant  upon 
a  knight,  and  himself  in  the  line  of  promotion 
to  that  rank.  In  Great  Britain  Esq.  is  ap- 
plied to  almost  every  man  who  is  not  actu- 
ally a  tradesman.  The  use  of  this  title 
among  men  who  are  social  equals  and  of 
some  importance  in  other  walks  of  life  be- 
sides the  learned  professions,  which  have 
their  own  titles,  is  spreading  in  the  United 
States. 

3.    How  to  close  a  Business  Letter 

Any  one  who  has  had  the  opportunity  to 
look  over  correspondence  bearing  dates  any 
time  before  the  middle  of  the  last  century 
will  find  that  rarely  did  the  writer  fail  to 
wind  up  his  business  letter,  even,  with  some 
courteous  expression,  and  graceful  perora- 
tion or  climax,  something  like:  Without 
further  of  interest  to  add,  and  commending 
the  foregoing  to  your  favorable  considera- 
tion, I  have  the  honor  to  be,  Your  obedient, 
humble  servant. 

Everything  as  elaborate  as  this  has  dis- 
appeared from  the  business  correspondence 
of  even  the  most  conservative  of  "  The 


46       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

City "  houses  of  London;  but  there  will 
often  be  found  in  the  letters  of  British 
commercial  houses,  when  these  are  written 
toward  the  end  of  December,  a  complimen- 
tary phrase  like:  With  the  compliments  of 
the  season,  we  are.  This  little  bit  of  com- 
mercial courtesy  is  not  absolutely  unknown 
in  America.  It  is  merely  a  matter  of  cus- 
tom, and  in  its  right  place  the  one  custom 
is  as  good  as  the  other. 

None  but  the  most  conservative  business 
men  in  the  British  Empire  now  close  their 
letters  with  the  polite  but  meaningless  phrase, 
Your  obedient  servant,  but  Yours  faithfully, 
is  altogether  common  with  British  merchants 
everywhere;  so  popular  is  this  phrase,  in- 
deed, that  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  outside 
the  United  States  of  America,  where  Ameri- 
can merchants  associate  with  British,  it  is  a 
common  thing  for  the  former  to  conform 
to  the  ways  of  the  latter  in  this  respect  as 
well  as  in  many  others.  The  American 
Yours  truly  is,  however,  entirely  satisfac- 
tory. In  business  letters,  nevertheless,  this 
should  never  be  Yours  very  truly,  and  such 
phrases  as  Yours  sincerely  are  simply  ridicu- 
lous in  business  correspondence. 


Mode  of  Address  47 

4.    Handwriting  and  Signature 

This  short  section  has  to  deal  entirely 
with  the  pen-written  letters  of  the  business 
man  who  does  not  himself  use  a  typewriter, 
or  does  not  care  to  employ  a  stenographer 
and  typist.  When  such  a  man  has  decided 
what  mechanical  forms  he  will  follow  in  con- 
structing his  letter  —  that  is,  the  date  line, 
the  form  of  address,  the  margin,  etc.  —  it  is 
well  for  him  to  adhere  to  that  particular 
form  consistently,  unless,  of  course,  he  is 
convinced  that  another  is  preferable. 

Handwriting  is  not  always  surely  con- 
trolled by  the  penman.  Not  only  is  hand- 
writing very  often  a  natural  gift,  but  fre- 
quently its  character  is  changed  by  reason  of 
good  or  bad  influences  and  habits.  Yet  every 
business  man  who  is  compelled  to  write  out 
his  business  letters  with  the  pen  should  try 
to  make  his  work  legible.  There  is  rarely 
any  excuse  for  the  grotesque,  almost  always 
unreadable  signature  which  is  often  affixed 
to  business  letters,  and  there  is  absolutely  no 
reason  for  it.  It  is  simply  an  affectation. 
Some  writers  of  these  weird  scrawls,  which 
they  make  for  signatures,  say  that  the  more 
grotesque  and  involved  they  are,  the  more 


48        The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

difficult  is  it  to  forge  them.  This  is  not  true. 
The  most  difficult  signature  to  be  counter- 
feited is  the  plain,  open  one,  which  approxi- 
mates the  handwriting  of  a  good  schoolboy, 
or  the  copperplate  style  of  a  writing-master. 

5.    Marginal  References,  Enclosure,  etc. 

It  is  not  often  that  a  thoughtfully  com- 
posed and  carefully  written  business-letter 
will  require  any  marginal  references  in  order 
to  assist  the  receiver  in  following  the  writer's 
meaning.  Yet  a  concrete  example  of  a  case 
in  which  these  were  serviceable  may  suggest 
others,  and  the  recommendation  will  be 
equally  pertinent  in  form.  A  business  firm 
in  Japan  was  given  a  contract  to  import  all 
the  steel  and  metal  required  to  build  the 
hull  of  a  steamer.  Detailed  and  elaborate 
specifications  were  sent  to  the  manufacturer 
at,  let  us  say,  Norwalk,  Connecticut.  Each 
separate  size  and  style  of  every  kind  of 
material  needed  was  given  a  number  and  a 
code  word.  In  the  correspondence  relating 
to  this  matter  every  reference  to  some  par- 
ticular size  of  plates,  or  beams,  or  whatever 
else  it  might  be,  could  be  indicated  in  the 
margin  of  letters  by  the  specification  num- 
ber and  the  code  word.  Economy  of  labor 


Mode  of  Address  49 

was  thus  practised.  Each  such  marginal 
reference  should  be  so  clearly  separated 
from  the  text  that  danger  of  overlooking 
will  be  removed. 

At  the  end  of  the  letter,  a  line  or  two 
below  the  signature,  and  at  the  left-hand 
margin,  should  be  the  word  Enclosures 
(when  there  are  any),  and  below  it,  indented 
somewhat,  a  list  thereof,  each  one  on  a 
separate  line.  Attention  should  be  given  to 
what  is  technically  called  u  display  "  —  that 
is,  the  use  of  large  or  small  capital  letters, 
black-faced  or  light-faced  type,  italics,  and 
other  ways  of  drawing  the  reader's  atten- 
tion to  something  particular.  All  this,  of 
course,  has  to  do  with  type-written  letters, 
although  practically  the  same  end  may  be 
accomplished  by  underlining  pen-written 
words  in  the  conventional  way. 


CHAPTER    III 

SUBJECT-MATTER 

i.    Subject  of  Letter  under  Reply 

TN  business  correspondence  it  is  rarely 
necessary  to  do  more  than  mention  the 
date  of  the  letter  to  which  one  is  replying, 
or  to  identify  it  by  the  index  number  which 
the  writer  has  given  it.  Yet  this  is  not  an 
infallible  rule  even  in  domestic  correspond- 
ence, especially  when  the  advantage  that 
may  possibly  be  gained  from  the  correspond- 
ence is  essentially  one-sided. 

Suppose,  for  example,  that  A.  wishes  to 
sell  a  large  quantity  of  lumber,  all  sawn 
and  some  of  it  dressed,  in  almost  infinite 
variety  of  shapes  and  sizes.  He  sends  to 
B.  a  complete  list  with  prices  affixed,  and 
solicits  an  order.  B.  replies  by  asking  for 
some  more  particular  information  regarding 
fifty  different  lines.  When  A.  answers  that 
letter,  it  would  be  well  to  recapitulate  to 
a  certain  extent  B.'s  letter  somewhat  in  this 
way:  Your  letter  of  March  $th  is  received. 


Subject-Matter  5 1 

You  inquire  how  soon  we  can  deliver  so  and 
so  (copying  the  list  exactly).  In  reply,  we 
have  to  say  that,  barring  accidents  and  de- 
lays beyond  our  control,  we  guarantee  de- 
livery at  Bridgeport  by  June  10.  This  repe- 
tition may  save  B.  some  trouble,  and  it  is 
worth  while  making  it  for  that  reason  if 
for  no  other.  In  this  particular  case  it 
is  assumed  that  A.  is  going  to  derive  the 
greater  benefit  from  a  successful  ending  of 
the  correspondence,  and  that  B.  is  known 
to  be  able  to  supply  his  requirements  in  the 
lumber  way  from  any  one  of  many  sources. 
It  seems  to  be  evident  that  B.  is  likely  to 
follow  the  line  of  least  resistance,  which  is 
the  popular  way  of  saying  that  a  thing  is  done 
in  the  easiest  possible  manner.  It  may  not 
be  difficult  for  B.  to  have  all  the  correspond- 
ence placed  before  him  with  the  list  and 
all  that  concerns  the  possible  transaction; 
but  if  even  a  little  of  this  labor  is  spared 
him,  the  result  may  be  to  A.'s  benefit. 

Many  business  men  make  it  a  rule  always 
to  give  a  concise  recapitulation  of  the  letter 
to  which  they  are  replying;  and  this  is  not 
at  all  a  bad  habit. 


52       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

2.    Attention  to  Inquiries  by  Correspondent 

This  is  rather  a  delicate  subject  upon 
which  to  venture  advice.  Some  business 
men  —  and,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  the  majority 
of  them  are  Americans  —  declare  that  their 
time  is  too  valuable  for  them  to  pay  even 
a  little  attention  to  any  but  their  regular 
customers  and  correspondents.  But  if  we 
go  back  to  the  beginnings  of  the  individual, 
firm,  or  corporation,  who  now  takes  this  very 
autocratic  stand,  we  may  often  find  that  it 
was  just  by  giving  careful  attention  to  every 
inquiry,  no  matter  from  whom  it  came,  that 
the  foundation  of  the  concern's  prosperity 
was  laid. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  many  bril- 
liant examples  of  great  firms  who  consider 
the  matter  of  correspondence  so  important 
that  one  member  thereof,  or  a  high-rank 
subordinate,  is  specially  detailed  to  take 
charge  of  all  letters  received.  The  first  duty 
of  this  person  is  to  decide  which  letters  shall 
receive  attention  from  the  active,  senior 
members;  and  to  each  one  of  the  rest  he 
gives  a  reply,  very  brief  it  may  be,  but  at 
least  he  tries  to  answer  all  inquiries.  It  is  an 
excellent  rule  to  follow,  that  every  letter  is 


Subject-Matter  53 

entitled   to   the    courtesy   of   some    sort   of 
reply. 

"  Business  "  is  a  word  of  such  wide  scope 
that  it  includes  even  the  editors  of  maga- 
zines and  newspapers;  and  these  are  notori- 
ously the  greatest  offenders  in  the  matter  of 
allowing  letters  to  go  unanswered,  simply 
because  there  seems  to  be  nothing  in  them 
that^may  benefit  the  individual  editor  him- 
self or  the  journal  with  which  he  is 
connected. 

3.    Clear,  Full,  Concise  Response 

There  is  really  no  confusion  or  repetition 
in  these  three  terms.  The  necessity  for  a 
clear  reply  should  be  manifest  to  all,  and  the 
danger  which  may  result  from  being  am- 
biguous is  well  illustrated  by  a  concrete  ex- 
ample. A  physician  in  the  Far  East  wrote 
to  the  makers  of  a  certain  road-cart  whose 
illustrated  advertisement  in  a  magazine  had 
interested  him.  He  asked  for  information 
as  to  price,  delivery,  etc.  The  reply  stated 
that  the  cart  would  be  delivered  "  in  the 
usual  way "  to  agents  of  a  steamship  line 
at  New  York.  This  seemed  to  be  satisfac- 
tory, and  the  order  was  given.  When  the 
cart  arrived  at  its  destination,  it  was  not 


54       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

only  standing  on  its  own  wheels,  but  the 
shafts  had  not  been  taken  off.  The  freight 
amounted  to  nearly  three  times  the  price  of 
the  vehicle.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  the 
important  essentials  of  a  good  business  let- 
ter —  clearness,  fulness,  and  conciseness  — 
had  not  been  observed,  and  instead  of  there 
being  a  number  of  "  repeat  "  orders,  as  there 
might  have  been,  for  the  cart  was  pleasing 
to  many,  the  maker  failed  to  secure  some 
good  business.  For  when  remonstrated  with 
for  not  packing  the  cart  in  the  smallest  pos- 
sible space,  the  retort  was  "  That  is  our  usual 
way  of  shipping,  and  we  do  not  see  any 
reason  why  we  should  change  our  custom." 
It  must  be  rather  difficult,  of  course,  for  «a 
business  man  to  put  himself  in  the  posi- 
tion of  some  of  his  correspondents,  and  to 
think  of  himself  as  absolutely  ignorant  of 
details  of  his  business.  Yet  in  many  cases 
it  is  necessary  that  something  of  the  sort  be 
done,  if  the  reply  to  a  letter  is  to  be  clear, 
full,  and  concise. 

4.    The  Writer's  Original  Information 

Here,  again,  it  is  very  frequently  neces- 
sary for  a  business  man  to  put  himself  in 
the  position  of  his  correspondent,  and  unless 


Subject-Matter  _  55 

that  person  is  one  with  whom  long  association 
has  brought  about  a  perfect  understanding  of 
technicalities,  forms  of  expression,  abbrevi- 
ations, etc.,  the  original  information  can 
hardly  be  too  simply  expressed. 

Original  information  rarely  appears  in 
a  long-established  correspondence  between 
business  men;  it  is  usually  the  effort  of  a 
beginner  who  wishes  to  make  his  way. 
Such  a  one  too  frequently  considers  himself 
particularly  fortunate  in  getting  hold  of 
some  lists  of  addresses  of  established  firms, 
business  men,  and  private  individuals,  to 
whom  he  proceeds  to  send  either  a  circu- 
lar or  a  circular  letter.  It  is  probably  no 
unique  experience  that  I  have  had  in  re- 
ceiving such  letters,  which  were  almost 
Greek  to  me  because  the  writer  did  not  im- 
part his  original  information  in  intelligible 
terms. 

We  must  also  consider  the  case  of  a  busi- 
ness man  giving  original  information  which 
has  been  suggested  by  something  in  the  let- 
ter to  which  he  is  replying.  It  is  not  diffi- 
cult to  think  of  this  as  being  done  in  a  way 
that  must  arouse  opposition  on  the  part  of 
his  correspondent.  Probably  all  business 
men  of  long  experience  will  agree  in  saying 


56       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

that  this  is  far  more  likely  to  be  a  fault 
committed  by  a  young  man  than  by  an  older 
one. 

An  amusing  but  entirely  true  story  will 
illustrate  the  point  which  it  is  desired  to 
make.  It  must  be  prefaced  by  the  explana- 
tion that  the  crisp  form  of  bread  which 
most  Americans  call  u  crackers  "  all  Britons 
call  "  biscuits."  The  Holdfast  Cracker  Com- 
pany found  that  it  could  get  dies  for  its 
crackers  of  better  quality  and  cheaper  in 
England  than  in  the  United  States.  This 
was,  however,  many  years  ago.  An  order 
was  sent  to  England.  Before  the  dies  came, 
a  letter  was  received  to  this  effect :  "  We 
have  duly  filled  your  esteemed  order;  but  as 
we  knew  very  well  a  mistake  had  been  madey 
we  have  changed  the  word  '  cracker y  to  '  bis- 
cuit.' '  The  Holdfast  Company  promptly 
returned  the  dies,  and  wrote  to  say  that  it 
claimed  to  know  its  own  business :  if  its 
order  could  be  filled,  well  and  good;  if  not, 
cancel  it.  Further  correspondence  disclosed 
the  fact  that  a  new  manager  had  taken  charge 
of  the  business  in  England,  and  being  rather 
young  he  was  a  little  too  liberal  with  his 
original  information. 


Subject-Matter  57 

5.    Ought  a  Business  Letter  to  be  restricted 
to  a  Single  Subject? 

If  the  answer  to  this  question  were  based 
upon  the  stand  taken  by  some  government 
departments,  great  industrial  establishments, 
and  private  firms  of  wide  and  powerful  in- 
fluence, it  would  be  "  yes."  Furthermore, 
if  we  think  of  it  as  a  matter  of  economiz- 
ing time  and  labor  for  both  parties  to  the 
correspondence,  then  again  the  answer  would 
be  affirmative.  A  letter  of  inquiry  seeking 
various  information  that  the  writer  ought 
to  know  (if  he  does  not)  must  come  from 
different  bureaus  of  the  same  government 
department,  or  similarly  from  different  parts 
of  the  manufacturing  establishment  or  pri- 
vate firm,  should  be  divided  into  paragraphs 
most  certainly,  each  one  carefully  restricted 
to  one  particular  topic.  But  even  this  in- 
volves considerable  risk.  The  letter  must 
be  passed  from  hand  to  hand,  and  each  one 
of  the  persons  who  receive  it  must  take  a 
copy  of  that  which  concerns  him,  or  the  in- 
quiry noted  and  the  letter  referred  to  sub- 
sequently, when  the  time  comes  for  reply. 
There  is  grave  danger  that  the  letter  of  in- 
quiry may  be  injured  or  misplaced  entirely. 


58        The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

All  these  considerations  being  given  their 
full  weight,  it  is  probably  wise  to  say  that 
a  business  letter  had  better  be  restricted  to 
a  single  subject. 


CHAPTER    IV 

VARIOUS  STYLES 

i.    The  Letter  imparts  General  Information 
about  Markets 

TT  is  reasonably  safe  to  say  that  such  a 
•*•  letter  will  go  to  correspondents  abroad, 
because  such  information  is  readily  obtained 
by  domestic  merchants  from  their  daily 
newspapers  or  regular  trade  journals.  This 
being  the  case,  the  writer  will  determine 
whether  he  is  to  conform,  completely  or 
only  partly,  to  the  usage  of  the  country  of 
his  correspondent,  or  adhere  strictly  to  the 
mode  of  expression  to  which  he  has  always 
been  accustomed.  It  is  probable  that  every 
go-ahead  business  man  will  choose  the 
former  method,  and  quickly  learn  how  to 
express  himself  technically  so  as  to  be  clearly 
understood  by  his  correspondent.  This  will 
often  necessitate  the  use  of  currency  terms, 
weights,  and  measures,  and  other  commer- 
cial details  which  are  strange  to  him.  In- 
asmuch as  our  export  trade  is  increasing, 


60       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

and  a  great  deal  of  business  is  now  being 
transacted  with  Spanish-speaking  peoples, 
an  appropriate  suggestion  here  is  to  ask  if 
it  is  not  worth  while  for  business  men  who 
are  pushing  export  and  import  business  to 
carry  on  their  correspondence  in  the  Spanish 
language,  in  order  that  this  general  infor- 
mation may  be  given  in  a  way  that  will 
please  correspondents  and  facilitate  trade? 
If  this  is  determined  upon,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  acquire  also  familiarity  with  the 
Spanish  style  of  business  correspondence, 
and  that  is  totally  different  from  the  United 
States  variety  of  the  English  model.  Styles 
of  address,  mechanical  details,  forms  of 
closing  a  letter,  and  other  features  show  the 
punctilious  courtesy  of  the  Spanish  hidalgo, 
even  if  "  trade  "  is  declared  to  be  offensive 
to  such  aristocrats. 

2.    The  Letter  deals  with  a  Particular 
Subject  exclusively 

This  makes  the  letter  much  easier  to  write 
in  some  ways,  and  yet  it  may  be  a  little  more 
difficult  in  others.  When  the  business  man 
has  but  one  article  to  which  he  devotes  his 
attention,  it  is  proper  to  assume  that  he  has 
become  an  expert  in  that  one  article.  He 


Various  Styles  61 

certainly  ought  to  be  able  to  discuss  it  in  its 
various  aspects  most  intelligently.  In  that 
case  we  should  expect  a  letter  from  him  to 
be  a  model  of  precision  and  information. 
Yet  it  is  not  taking  an  unpardonable  risk 
to  say  that  every  business  man  who  gives  his 
attention,  as  he  thinks,  to  one  article  exclu- 
sively will,  if  subjected  to  a  friendly  but 
thorough  cross-examination,  quickly  find  that 
there  is  no  such  thing  in  his  business  as  ab- 
solute exclusiveness.  No  matter  what  the 
article  may  be  —  raw  hides  from  Argentina, 
or  dainty  silks  from  Japan  and  China,  or 
fragrant  coffee  from  Mocha  —  there  will  be 
conditions  apparently  outside  his  legitimate 
field  which  demand  attention,  and  when  he 
thinks  he  is  writing  a  letter  given  exclusively 
to  one  topic,  there  will  creep  in  incidental 
topics  of  varying  proportions  if  the  letter 
is  to  give  full  information  to  his  correspond- 
ent. Such  a  letter  can  hardly  be  restricted 
to  the  asking  and  selling  prices.  There  must 
be  some  discussion  of  the  reasons  which 
cause  the  momentary  activity  or  depression; 
the  probable  supplies  in  sight  or  on  the  way; 
and  one  may  almost  say  a  thousand  details 
to  make  the  seemingly  simple  letter  a  truly 
complicated  one  after  all. 


62       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

3.    The  Letter  is  somewhat  Perfunctory 

This  is  when  a  business  man  finds  himself 
involved  in  a  correspondence  which  deals 
with  something  that  interests  him  little 
personally  or  not  at  all;  or  it  takes  up 
a  phase  of  his  business  which  is  entirely 
new  to  him,  or  which  he  has  already  in- 
vestigated and  decided  that  it  is  not  suffi- 
ciently promising  to  justify  his  giving  time 
and  thought  to  it.  Perhaps  he  dislikes  to 
invest  in  it  the  capital  which  he  is  convinced 
may  be  more  profitably  kept  within  the  re- 
stricted field  he  has  developed  for  himself. 
Yet  there  is  something  personal  about  the 
writer  of  the  letter  he  has  received,  or  it 
presents  the  case  in  such  a  way  that  the 
receiver  feels  he  cannot  ignore  it. 

The  proper  reply  to  such  a  letter  involves 
much  careful  thought  and  a  good  deal  of 
practise  in  business  correspondence  to  pre- 
vent the  perfunctoriness  becoming  so  ap- 
parent as  to  be  offensive.  It  is  a  subject 
about  which  it  is  almost  impossible  to  give 
advice  or  even  intelligent  suggestion.  The 
best  that  can  be  done  is  to  utter  a  word 
of  caution:  the  writer  of  a  letter  which 
causes  the  one  who  is  to  answer  it  to  feel 


Various  Styles  63 

that  he  does  not  care  to  do  so,  and  yet  is 
compelled  to,  will  assuredly  detect  the 
perfunctoriness  unless  it  is  very  skilfully 
concealed. 

4.    The  Letter  is  Instructive 

By  this  is  meant  that  the  letter  gives  in- 
structions to  a  correspondent  who  is  not  in 
any  way  subordinate  to  the  writer,  and  is 
not  in  the  nature  of  a  command.  It  will 
almost  always  be  the  conclusion  of  a  series 
of  letters  in  which  the  propriety  of  doing 
a  certain  thing  and  the  ways  of  accomplish- 
ing that  certain  purchase  or  sale  have  been 
discussed. 

These  preliminary  conditions  having  been 
found  satisfactory,  the  correspondent  is  in- 
structed—  "  requested  "  might  perhaps  be 
the  better  word  —  to  buy  or  to  sell.  In 
this  case  it  is  most  important  that  the  per- 
son giving  the  instructions  should  make  it 
very  clear  whether  or  not  he  leaves  anything 
to  the  discretion  of  his  correspondent.  In 
nine  cases  out  of  ten  it  is  expedient  that 
this  should  not  be  done.  If  possible,  the 
instructions  should  be  clear  and  explicit  in 
order  to  avoid  misunderstandings  and 
through  them  loss. 


64       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

I  can  cite  a  specific  case  in  which  failure 
to  be  thus  explicit  not  only  involved  failure 
to  make  a  large  profit,  but  actually  entailed 
a  heavy  loss;  and  I  have  no  doubt  that 
every  business  man  of  wide  experience  can 
match  my  story  with  many  others.  A  firm 
in  Japan  shipped  to  London,  England,  a 
large  quantity  of  the  very  best  crude  cam- 
phor, at  a  time  when  the  British  govern- 
ment was  making  experiments  with  smoke- 
less powder,  an  important  ingredient  of 
which  was  gum  camphor.  When  the  con- 
signment reached  London,  the  price  was  so 
high  that  a  profit  of  £12,000  sterling,  nearly 
$60,000,  could  have  been  made.  The  con- 
signees advised  the  consignors  by  telegram 
that  they  believed  the  price  would  go  higher. 
The  latter  replied,  "  You  had  better  sell." 
The  former  assumed  from  this  that  selling 
or  holding  was  left  to  their  discretion,  and 
they  held.  The  consequence  was  that  in- 
stead of  making  a  handsome  profit  the  con- 
signors had  to  bear  a  loss  of  over  £2,000 
sterling,  nearly  $10,000.  The  importance 
of  being  explicit  is  very  clear. 


Various  Styles  65 

5.    The  Letter  is  Politely  Mandatory 

Such  a  letter  will  rarely  be  written  to  any 
one  who  is  not  in  the  employ  of  the  writer. 
Being  mandatory  means,  of  course,  a  com- 
mand to  do  a  certain  thing  or  not  to  do 
something  else.  Great  caution  should  be 
observed  in  writing  such  a  letter,  for  human 
beings  are  all  more  or  less  sensitive,  and 
even  the  fresh  young  salesman  who  has  not 
yet  had  the  opportunity  to  prove  his  worth, 
cannot  like  to  have  an  order  given  to  him 
as  if  he  were  a  slave  or  a  common  navvy 
working  on  a  railroad.  In  business  cor- 
respondence the  opinion  of  Admiral  Sir 
Joseph  Porter,  K.C.B.,  of  H.M.S.  "  Pina- 
fore "  fame,  may  well  be  considered:  u  For 
I  hold  that  on  the  seas  the  expression  *  If 
you  please  '  a  particularly  gentlemanly  tone 
implants."  The  employer  undoubtedly  has 
the  abstract  right  to  command  his  employees 
to  do  his  bidding.  He  need  not  leave  one 
single  thing  to  a  subordinate's  discretion,  but 
he  can  easily  express  his  command  in  such 
a  way  as  to  make  his  meaning  clear  and 
secure  prompt  and  implicit  obedience  with- 
out hurting  anybody's  feelings;  and  the 
smoothness  which  such  consideration  brings 


66       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

about  is  worth  careful   attention  by  every 
employer. 

6.    Bankers',  Merchants',  and  Others'  Styles 

The  correspondence  of  bankers  may  be 
of  very  wide  range.  If  the  business  is  re- 
stricted to  pure  and  simple  banking,  it  rarely 
passes  beyond  the  advice  of  remittances,  or 
to  drafts  drawn,  or  collections  to  be  made. 
Sometimes  even  such  a  banker  will  have 
occasion  to  make  an  investment  for  himself 
or  a  client.  But  nearly  all  of  such  corre- 
spondence is  done  with  blanks  that  have 
been  reduced  to  the  smallest  possible  use 
of  words.  When,  however,  the  banker's 
business  takes  on  a  wider  range,  there  may 
easily  be  created  a  correspondence  which 
has  much  of  literary  merit  in  it.  Yet  even 
in  this  case  clearness,  conciseness,  and  ex- 
plicitness  are  of  the  utmost  importance.  As 
nearly  as  possible  all  danger  of  misunder- 
standing should  be  eliminated.  The  corre- 
spondence of  some  of  the  great  banking- 
houses  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  is  a  model  for  scholars  of  every  class. 
The  merchants'  style  should  likewise  be 
marked  by  care  to  avoid  misunderstandings 
and  to  impart  information  with  as  few 


Parlous  Styles  67 

words  as  possible.  Manufacturers,  indus- 
trialists, railroad  officials,  and  other  public- 
utilities  officers  have  to  consider  at  least  two 
phases  of  correspondence:  the  one  relates 
to  the  details  of  their  business,  and  in  this 
"  Brevity  is  the  soul  of  wit";  the  other  is 
usually  placed  under  charge  of  an  adver- 
tising agent,  and  to  him  is  permitted  a 
measure  of  discursiveness  which  almost 
passes  beyond  the  scope  of  true  business 
style. 


CHAPTER    V 
OBSTACLES  TO  BE  OVERCOME 

i.    Tendency  to  be  too  Lengthy 

practical  business  man,  who  has  had 
-•-  long  experience  in  writing  letters  with 
his  own  pen  or  in  dictating  to  a  stenog- 
rapher, will  be  disposed  to  smile  at  the  mere 
suggestion  that  this  could  possibly  be  a  fault 
which  there  is  the  least  danger  of  his  com- 
mitting. Yet  a  long  experience  and  oppor- 
tunity to  examine  business  correspondence 
in  various  parts  of  the  world  justify  the 
statement  that  it  is  an  error  which  even  the 
best  business  man  sometimes  commits;  but 
it  is  always  due,  in  this  case,  to  a  great 
desire  to  make  a  strong  impression  upon 
his  correspondent,  or  to  accomplish  some 
purpose  which  he  has  very  much  at  heart. 

Verbosity,  however,  may  safely  be  said 
to  be  a  fault  which  is  far  more  likely  to 
appear  in  the  letters  of  Germans  and  French- 
men than  in  those  written  by  English-speak- 


Obstacles  to  be  Overcome  69 

ing  business  men;  and  of  those  last  men- 
tioned, too  lengthy  letters  are  more  fre- 
quently found  to  have  come  from  our  cousins 
across  the  Atlantic  than  from  the  business 
offices  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

To  the  beginner  and  those  who  have  not 
had  much  experience,  the  caution  may  very 
well  be  given,  "  Do  not  let  your  letters  be 
too  long."  This  fault  may  be  avoided  by 
practising  either  of  two  methods:  first,  by 
giving  a  few  moments  to  careful  thought  of 
what  is  to  be  said;  second,  by  letting  each 
important  subject  have  its  own  separate 
letter  carefully  thought  out. 

2.    Faults  of  Diction 

It  is  astonishing  how  frequent  these  are 
in  the  correspondence  of  some  of  our 
largest  and  longest-established  business- 
houses.  They  are,  it  is  sad  to  state,  most 
conspicuous  in  the  letters  of  those  who  have 
had  a  course  of  instruction  in  some  of  our 
business  colleges,  and  the  reason  has  already 
been  suggested  by  what  has  been  said  of 
the  neglect,  in  some  of  those  schools,  of 
practical  work  in  composition  and  grammar. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  recommend  any 
good  collection  of  "  model  letters,"  simply 


70       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

because  there  is  nothing  which  satisfactorily 
fills  the  requirements.  There  are  scores  of 
such  books,  it  is  true,  but  they  are  a  good 
deal  like  the  "  phrase-book,"  and  "  guide  to 
practical  conversation "  in  a  foreign  lan- 
guage. In  the  latter  the  anxious  American, 
who  wishes  to  ask  for  something  particular, 
will  too  often  find  sentences  that  are  utterly 
useless  to  him  in  his  momentary  predica- 
ment, and  rarely  just  the  one  which  fills  his 
exact,  pressing  need. 

It  is  with  letter  writing  very  much  as  it 
is  with  meeting  the  difficulties  of  speech  in 
a  foreign  language:  the  man  who  wishes  to 
talk  French  must  learn  how  to  do  it  and 
make  his  own  sentences;  the  letter  writer 
must  learn  the  correct  form  of  grammar 
and  rhetoric,  and  then  he  may  compose  his 
letters  with  little  danger  of  faulty  diction. 
He  will,  with  practise,  see  that  even  in  busi- 
ness correspondence  a  well-phrased  letter  is 
far  more  likely  to  accomplish  its  purpose 
than  is  one  which  offends  the  eye  and  the 
ear  by  mistakes  of  grammar  and  composi- 
tion; that  desirable  brevity,  which  is  always 
commendable,  should  not  be  attained  by 
omissions  which  give  the  letter  an  undeni- 
able appearance  of  disagreeable  brusque- 


Obstacles  to  be  Overcome  71 

ness,  and  other  faults  of  diction  that  may 
easily  be  avoided. 

3.    Intrusion  of  Personality 

Another  way  to  express  what  is  meant  by 
this  caption  is:  u  Do  not  let  a  business 
letter  be  too  much  of  what  '  I  '  think  or 
say."  Of  course,  when  the  letter  gives  defi- 
nite information  as  to  what  price  the  writer 
will  pay  for  a  certain  article,  or  what  his 
selling  price  is  for  something  else,  it  is  per- 
fectly right  and  proper  to  say  what  7  or 
we  will  do;  nothing  else  can  exactly  fill  the 
requirements  of  the  case.  But  there  are 
thousands  of  times  when  the  correspondence 
takes  the  form  of  a  discussion,  and  there 
is  an  exchange  of  opinions  as  to  what  is 
right  or  wrong  in  connection  with  a  certain 
matter.  An  inquiry,  let  us  say,  is  made 
as  to  the  most  desirable  material  for  con- 
structing a  bridge.  Full  particulars  as  to 
length,  purpose,  etc.,  have  been  supplied 
from  the  inquirer;  and  now  comes  the 
question  as  to  the  exact  character  of  the 
structure  best  suited  for  the  case,  the 
material,  and  other  points.  Is  it  wise  to 
assume  that  the  inquirer  is  entirely  ignorant 
of  the  first  principles  of  bridge  construction, 


72       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

and  for  the  expert  to  say  that  he  would  do 
thus  and  so,  in  a  manner  which  rather  more 
than  implies  that  this  is  the  only  thing  to 
be  done  in  the  case?  It  seems  hardly  neces- 
sary to  give  an  answer  to  the  question;  and 
yet  I  have  seen  many  letters  in  which  the 
personality  of  the  writer  was  made  to  ap- 
pear so  strongly  and  so  offensively  that  a 
good  opportunity  to  secure  remunerative 
business  was  lost.  This  intrusion  of  person- 
ality too  frequently  makes  a  letter  read  like 
an  advertisement,  in  which  the  merits  of  a 
cart-wheel  are  set  forth  in  such  a  way  as 
to  cause  it  to  appear  that  the  maker  of 
this  particular  cart-wheel  is  the  only  person 
in  all  the  world  who  has  the  faintest  notion 
of  how  to  put  the  various  parts  of  a  cart- 
wheel together. 

4.  Confusion  of  Matter 

Such  a  fault  is  always  improper;  and  it 
is  a  fault  that  is  more  likely  to  occur  in 
letters  which  are  dictated  to  a  stenographer 
than  in  those  which  are  written  by  the  hand 
of  the  business  man  himself.  The  princi- 
pal reason  for  this  is,  of  course,  some- 
thing which  might  truthfully  be  called  lazi- 
ness. It  is  not  at  all  unnatural  that  the 


Obstacles  to  be  Overcome  73 

person  who  is  dictating  may,  so  to  speak, 
think  in  parentheses,  and  that  the  paren- 
thetical expression  may  assume  such  pro- 
portions as  to  obscure  the  principal  sentence. 
Opportunity  to  examine  correspondence  from 
various  parts  of  the  world  brings  out  the 
fact  that  this  fault  is  more  noticeable  in 
business  letters  from  England  than  in  those 
written  in  our  own  country.  Yet  in  the 
United  States  the  fault  is  somewhat  more 
conspicuous  in  letters  from  smaller  towns 
and  villages  than  it  is  in  those  which  come 
from  the  large  business-houses  of  the  great 
cities.  This  may  doubtless  be  accounted 
for  by  the  fact  that  the  merchants  of  the 
commercial  centers  are  usually  specialists 
in  their  operations,  confining  themselves  to 
one  line  of  goods  and  sometimes  even  to 
one  particular  article,  while  the  country 
merchant  must  of  necessity  deal  with  almost 
everything.  When  the  letter  is  carefully 
considered  before  being  put  upon  paper, 
this  danger  of  confusion  is  greatly  reduced, 
if  not  entirely  overcome;  and  this  is  an 
added  reason  for  this  preliminary. 

Too  much  importance  cannot  be  attached 
to  the  caution  not  to  let  any  matters  which 
are  entirely  irrelevant  creep  into  a  para- 


74       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

graph.  It  is  not  at  all  likely  that  this  fault 
will  appear  in  the  correspondence  of  an  expe- 
rienced person,  but  it  is  not  for  such  that 
this  book  is  prepared.  The  inexperienced 
letter  writer  may  see  no  impropriety  in  mak- 
ing his  letter  a  combination  of  business  with 
personal,  social,  and  general  —  even  politi- 
cal —  matters ;  but  such  a  preference  is  in 
bad  taste,  and  also  tends  to  waste  valuable 
time. 

5.    Danger  of  being  Stilted  or  too  Simple 

If  any  one  reads  the  correspondence  of 
our  ancestors  who  were  engaged  in  business, 
there  will  be  found  a  curious  style  of  ex- 
pression, and  a  use  of  words  and  phrases 
that  have  a  "  grand "  sound,  but  fail  to 
satisfy  our  ideals  of  what  is  good  corre- 
spondence style  nowadays.  This  is  often 
what  is  called  "  stilted."  If  a  business 
man  permits  himself  to  write  letters  which 
sound,  when  read,  like  the  pulpit  utter- 
ances of  a  renowned  theologian  discours- 
ing to  a  congregation  of  eminent  school- 
men, or  which  resemble  the  didactic  periods 
of  an  abstruse  professor  enlarging  upon  the 
phenomena  of  organic  life  and  inorganic 
basic  elements,  his  customers  will  certainly 


Obstacles  to  be  Overcome  75 

declare  him  to  be  a  candidate  for  admis- 
sion to  an  insane  asylum  instead  of  a  man 
with  whom  they  care  to  transact  business. 

The  above  sentence  has  been  purposely 
written  as  an  example  of  "the  stilted  style 
to  which  we  are  opposed  for  business  cor- 
respondence. On  the  other  hand,  no  busi- 
ness man  likes  to  have  himself  addressed 
in  a  letter  as  if  he  were  the  newest  pupil 
in  the  first-year  primary  class  that  has  just 
passed  from  the  alphabet  into  the  "  I  see 
a  cat,"  "  Do  you  see  the  cat? "  reading- 
lesson.  There  is  a  great  opportunity  for 
the  business  man  to  display  his  shrewdness 
in  adapting  his  correspondence  to  the  mental 
attainment  of  those  to  whom  he  is  writing. 
In  this  matter  a  great  many  valuable  sug- 
gestions may  be  secured  from  the  skilful 
traveling-salesman,  who  meets  the  customers 
at  their  offices,  and  can  get  a  clear  idea  of 
just  how  they  like  to  be  addressed  in  let- 
ters, or  how  far  advanced  they  are  in  ability 
to  read  and  answer  such  letters. 


PART  III 
PUBLIC  BUSINESS 


CHAPTER    I 

OFFICIAL  CORRESPONDENCE 

i.    Diplomatic  Correspondence 

A  NY  business  man  whose  range  of  en- 
terprise  has  passed  beyond  the  borders 
of  the  United  States  is  likely  to  find  it  neces- 
sary to  communicate  by  letter  with  one  of 
the  departments  of  some  foreign  govern- 
ment. When  it  seems  advisable,  or  if  it 
becomes  necessary,  to  write  such  letters,  the 
first  step  is  to  ascertain  whether  or  not  such 
correspondence  between  a  private  individual 
and  a  department  of  government  is  per- 
mitted; for  it  is  probable  that  a  majority 
of  the  governments  of  important  states  do 
not  allow  this.  If,  however,  it  is  permitted, 
then  it  is  important  to  ascertain  just  what 
formalities  must  be  observed. 

This  needed  preliminary  information  can 
be  obtained  in  three  ways:  first,  by  apply- 
ing to  our  own  Department  of  State;  but, 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  this  is  often  the 
least  satisfactory  method  of  accomplishing 


8o       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

what  is  desired.  Second,  by  asking  our  own 
diplomatic  representative  in  the  capital  of 
the  country  with  which  correspondence  is  to 
be  conducted  to  supply  forms  and  to  give 
useful  suggestions;  but  here,  again,  the 
business  man  is  not  at  all  certain  of  getting 
what  he  wishes,  for  many  of  those  despotic 
representatives  quite  frequently  stand  upon 
their  dignity,  and  insist  that  their  one  func- 
tion is  to  conduct  correspondence  between 
their  own  government  and  that  to  which 
they  are  accredited.  When  this  proves  to  be 
the  case,  the  business  man  may  turn  to  the 
Consul-General,  whose  duty  it  is  to  render 
assistance  if  the  same  appears  to  him  to 
be  in  the  line  of  his  duty.  Probably  this 
is  the  best  way  of  all  to  secure  the  de- 
sired information;  but  even  it  is  not  infal- 
lible. The  third  and  last  way  is  for  the 
business  man  to  "  take  the  bull  by  the 
horns  "  and  write  direct  to  the  proper  min- 
ister of  the  foreign  government.  There  are 
a  number  of  books  which  give  the  names 
of  the  cabinet  officers  of  all  organized  gov- 
ernments in  the  world.  The  "  Statesman's 
Year  Book  "  and  the  "  Almanach  de  Gotha  " 
may  be  mentioned. 

When   the   proper  person   has   been   de- 


Official  Correspondence  81 

termined,  the  importance  of  formality  can 
hardly  be  exaggerated.  It  is  always  well  to 
use  unruled  paper  of  what  is  called  legal 
cap  size.  This  is  very  much  the  same  as 
foolscap.  The  post-office  address  of  the 
writer  being  given  in  full  and  in  the  proper 
place,  and  the  date  written,  the  next  word 
is  Sir,  or  Your  Excellency,  or  whatever  may 
be  the  proper  title  to  give  to  the  minister. 
This  preliminary  word  of  address  is  written 
at  the  left-hand  side,  leaving  a  very  wide 
margin.  It  is  so  unusual  to  address  the  offi- 
cial at  the  beginning  of  a  letter  (which  in 
this  case  is  often  dignified  by  the  title  of 
"  Despatch  ")  that  it  is  perfectly  safe  never 
to  do  it.  Then  the  writer  proceeds  to  say, 
/  have  the  honor  to  request,  and  goes  on 
to  state  his  case,  following  this  preliminary 
with  whatever  request  for  information  he 
may  wish  to  make. 

There  cannot  be  too  minute  subdivision 
into  paragraphs.  The  despatch  is  brought 
to  a  close  in  the  most  formal  manner,  some- 
what thus:  /  have  the  honor  to  be  on  one 
line;  Your  Excellency9 s  or  Your  Lordship's 
or  Your  Highness' ,  on  the  next  line,  and 
Obedient  Servant,  on  the  next.  The  signa- 
ture comes  on  the  next  line.  Leaving  a 


82       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

space  of  about  two  lines,  at  the  left-hand 
margin  is  written  To;  then,  on  the  next  line, 
preliminary  titles,  name,  and  heraldic  titles; 
on  the  next  line  the  official  designation ;  fol- 
lowed, on  the  succeeding  lines,  by  the  ad- 
dress of  the  official. 

2.    To  Cabinet  Officers  and  Others 

When  a  business  man  has  occasion  to 
write  to  one  of  our  President's  cabinet  offi- 
cers, it  is  well  to  use  the  same  legal  cap 
paper,  although  this  is  not  so  imperatively 
necessary  as  in  the  case  of  correspondence 
with  foreign  statesmen.  Again,  the  style  of 
address  is  either  Sir  or  Your  Excellency; 
the  despatch  is  closed  in  the  same  formal 
way,  and  the  address  of  the  official  is  stated 
in  full  at  the  bottom  of  the  page.  When 
a  communication  is  sent  to  one  of  our  am- 
bassadors, it  is  proper  to  preface  the  indi- 
vidual name  with  Honorable  (and  there 
seems  to  be  no  substantial  objection  to  ab- 
breviating this  into  Hon.).  If  the  official 
is  a  military  officer,  the  proper  military  title 
may  be  used,  although  authorities  differ 
upon  this  point;  many  admirable  writers 
say  that  the  highest  title  always  obliterates, 
for  the  time  being,  any  lower  title  which 


Official  Correspondence  83 

may  be  used  in  addressing  a  person.  Since 
the  diplomatic  representative  of  the  govern- 
ment is  supposed  to  be  of  higher  official 
rank  than  a  military  officer,  it  is  evident 
that,  if  we  observe  this  rule,  the  lower  title 
should  not  be  used. 

After  the  personal  name  come  the  letters 
which  denote  academic  degrees,  etc.  The 
popular  style  of  an  ambassador  is  Ambas- 
sador extraordinary  and  plenipotentiary  of 
the  United  States  of  America.  A  minister 
is  Envoy  extraordinary  and  Minister  pleni- 
potentiary. Sometimes,  as  is  the  case  with 
many  smaller  states,  our  diplomatic  repre- 
sentative is  merely  Minister  Resident. 

It  is  not  proper  to  address  even  a  consul- 
general  as  Honorable.  A  consul-general  or 
consul  is  William  Adams,  Esquire,  Consul 
General  (or  Consul]  of  the  United  States 
of  America. 

Should  occasion  arise  for  writing  a  letter 
to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  he  is 
addressed  simply  as  Sir,  and  the  letter  is 
closed  in  this  way:  The  President,  Wash' 
inglon,  District  of  Columbia.  Here,  again, 
there  is  a  slight  difference  of  opinion,  some 
authorities  contending  that  we  should  insert 
in  this  address  either  Executive  Mansion 


84       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

(White  House  is  doubtful)  or  Official  Resi- 
dence. The  reason  why  the  personal  name 
of  the  President  should  not  be  used  is  that 
the  individual  disappears  in  the  office,  and 
it  is  the  President  of  the  United  States  to 
whom  the  despatch  is  addressed.  Indeed, 
it  has  been  officially  declared  that  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  is  not  a  person- 
ality at  all.  When  it  becomes  necessary  to 
speak  or  to  write  of  the  individual  who,  for 
the  time  being,  fills  that  office,  he  should 
be  simply  Mr.  Woodrow  Wilson)  and  when 
he  retires  from  office  he  becomes  only  the 
citizen,  Mr.  Woodrow  Wilson.  It  is  not 
proper  to  use  any  other  title. 

Correspondence  with  the  officials  who  are 
at  the  head  of  administrative  departments 
of  our  own  or  foreign  governments,  or  who 
represent  us  diplomatically  or  commercially 
in  other  countries,  should  always  be  more 
or  less  formal  and  stately.  These  charac- 
teristics,- however,  diminish  in  degree  of 
dignity  from  the  highest,  let  us  say  the 
British  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign  Af- 
fairs, who  corresponds  to  our  Secretary  of 
State,  as  we  go  down  to  a  consul,  or  even 
lower,  to  a  commercial  agent.  When  occa- 
sion calls  for  a  communication  to  be  ad- 


Official  Correspondence  85 

dressed  to  a  diplomatic  or  commercial  repre- 
sentative of  a  foreign*  government  in  this 
country,  it  will  be  manifest  to  all  that  a 
corresponding  formality  should  be  observed 
and  a  similar  dignity  conferred  upon  the 
official  as  has  been  indicated  in  other  cases. 
One  precaution  may  be  inserted  here,  and 
that  is  to  write  on  one  side  of  the  paper 
only. 


CHAPTER    II 

CIVIL  AND  MUNICIPAL  SERVICE 

i.    Borough  or  Town  Officials 

^  INHERE  will  be  many  occasions  when  the 
-*-  business  man,  the  professional  man,  the 
ordinary  citizen,  and  persons  of  every  class, 
will  find  it  necessary  to  write  letters  to  the 
chief  official  of  the  town  in  which  they  live. 
If  it  is  a  borough  or  small  town,  it  is  quite 
likely  that  the  Burgess  or  Chairman  of  the 
Town  Council  will  stand  upon  his  dignity, 
and  it  is  quite  right  that  his  position  should 
be  respected.  In  communications  of  this 
kind  local  custom  must  be  the  main  deter- 
mining factor  as  to  how  the  official  should 
be  addressed:  in  some  places  he  would  be 
offended  if  he  were  not  given  the  title  of 
Esquire,  because  he  does  exercise,  some- 
times at  any  rate,  the  duties  of  a  squire  or 
petty  judge;  in  other  places  that  same  Es- 
quire would  be  just  as  likely  to  arouse  in- 
dignation, because  it  would  be  misinter- 
preted as  an  effort  to  curry  favor  by  being 


Civil  and  Municipal  Service          87 

obsequious.  But  whatever  title  may  be  given 
to  the  head  official  of  the  community,  the 
letter  itself  cannot  be  written  in  too  simple, 
straightforward  language,  because  it  often 
happens  that  the  burgess'  or  chairman's  as- 
sociates are,  if  not  absolutely  unlettered,  not 
highly  educated.  Yet  simplicity  does  not 
mean  childishness,  for  such  would  be  a 
needless  affront.  Suggestions  as  to  ways 
of  writing  letters  to  the  mayor  and  officials 
of  a  city  can  best  be  given  by  specimen 
letters;  such  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix. 

2.    Letters  to  County  Officials 

In  this  case  the  dignity  of  the  person  to 
whom  the  communication  is  addressed  must 
be  carefully  borne  in  mind.  Another  thing 
to  be  remembered  is  the  fact  that  customs 
differ  very  much  in  the  various  parts  of  our 
country.  In  New  England,  for  example, 
these  county  officials  have  a  certain  inherit- 
ance from  early  colonial  days,  when  more 
importance  and  greater  dignity  attached  to 
their  office  than  is  found  to  be  the  case 
today;  nevertheless  they  expect  their  posi- 
tion to  be  recognized.  In  the  western  part 
of  our  country  it  need  hardly  be  stated  that 
most  of  the  sheriffs,  for  example,  would 


88        The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

think  that  the  writer  of  the  letter  had  some 
improper  scheme  in  his  mind  if  he  were 
to  employ  the  dignified  forms  of  correspond- 
ence which  are  quite  proper,  and  even  com- 
monplace, in  other  parts  of  the  country. 

When  the  time  comes  for  a  private  in- 
dividual to  address  a  county  official,  it  is 
well  for  him  to  ascertain  exactly  what  is 
the  official  title  of  the  person  to  whom  he 
is  going  to  write.  This  may  seem  almost 
too  trivial  a  matter  to  mention  here,  but 
it  is  a  bright  example  of  the  importance 
of  small  things. 

In  order  to  give  a  precise  and  clear  illus- 
tration of  what  the  writer  of  business  let- 
ters to  county  officials  must  consider,  let  us 
take  as  an  illustration  the  old  Common- 
wealth of  Virginia.  A  county  is  divided  into 
magisterial  districts,  the  number  varying 
from  three  to  eleven.  The  voters  of  the 
district  elect  a  supervisor,  and  these  collec- 
tive supervisors  make  the  county  board  of 
supervisors,  which  represents  the  county  as 
a  corporation,  managing  its  property  and 
business,  levying  taxes,  auditing  accounts, 
and  disbursing  funds.  It  recommends  to 
the  circuit  court  the  individual  to  be  ap- 
pointed county  surveyor  and  county  super- 


Civil  and  Municipal  Service          89 

intendent  of  the  poor.  Each  county  elects 
also  a  treasurer,  a  sheriff,  an  attorney,  one 
or  more  commissioners  of  the  revenue,  and 
a  clerk  of  the  circuit  court.  Each  magis- 
terial district  elects,  besides,  a  supervisor 
and  justices  of  the  peace,  a  constable,  and 
an  overseer  of  the  poor.  Suggestions  as 
to  the  method  of  addressing  letters  to  these 
various  county  officials  will  be  given  in  the 
Appendix. 

3.    Letters  to  State  Officers 

In  a  little  book  to  which  the  writer  gave 
a  great  deal  of  time  and  trouble  this  state- 
ment is  made:  "It  is  known  to  everybody 
that  titles  are  in  disfavor  in  the  United 
States. "  I  do  not  give  the  title  of  the  book 
or  the  writer's  name,  because  I  have  no 
desire  to  have  the  man  contradicted  or  his 
work  ridiculed.  Yet  without  some  explana- 
tion the  statement  is  altogether  inaccurate. 
The  writer,  of  course,  meant  titles  of  no- 
bility, Prince,  Duke,  Your  Lordship,  etc.  It 
is  certainly  known  to  everybody  that  other 
titles  are  very  much  in  favor  in  the  United 
States,  and  it  is  a  pity  that  this  is  so.  It 
ought  to  be  quite  sufficient  to  address  an 
envelope  Mr.  George  White,  Governor, 


90       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

Harris  burg,  Penn.,  and  to  begin  the  enclosed 
letter,  Dear  Mr.  White.  But  this  is  con- 
sidered to  be  not  sufficient. 

I  am  here  brought  up  against  an  ex- 
tremely awkward  problem..  Each  of  our 
States  is  represented  in  two  ways:  there  are 
the  governor,  the  lieutenant-governor,  the 
important  officials  of  the  administration,  as 
well  as  the  members  of  the  legislature.  All 
of  these  represent  the  people,  and  are  to  be 
considered  in  matters  social  and  epistolary, 
that  is,  correspondence.  But  the  people  are 
also  represented  in  the  national  legislature 
by  United  States  senators  and  members  of 
Congress.  Of  course  the  two  sets  of  offi- 
cials will  never  actually  clash  in  the  matter 
of  taking  precedence  one  before  the  other, 
because  the  governor  and  the  others  named 
with  him  are  local,  while  the  senators  and 
representatives  are  officially  recognized  only 
in  the  District  of  Columbia.  If  I  speak 
of  national  representatives  first,  it  is  not 
because  I  consider  them  entitled  to  any 
special  precedence.  A  senator  may  be  ad- 
dressed as  Honorable  Boise  Penrose,  Sena- 
tor of  the  United  States,  and  when  Congress 
is  not  in  session,  but  he  is  in  residence  at 
Washington,  his  post-office  address  may 


Civil  and  Municipal  Service          91 

follow:  during  the  sitting  of  Congress  Hon- 
orable Boise  Penrose,  United  States  Sena- 
tor, Washington,  is  sufficient.  Of  course, 
when  it  is  known  that  Senator  Penrose  is 
at  some  other  place,  the  title  is  the  same, 
but  the  post-office  address  is  whatever  it 
may  be. 

The  address  of  the  governor  of  the  State 
is  His  Excellency,  John  K.  Tener,  Governor 
of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania,  The 
Capitol,  Harrisburg,  Penn.  Other  forms  of 
address  will  be  found  in  the  proper  place. 

Formality,  precision,  dignity,  and  clear- 
ness should  all  be  given  careful  attention  in 
writing  to  any  of  the  local  or  representa- 
tive State  officials. 


CHAPTER    III 
LETTERS  FOR  PUBLICATION 

i.    Treatment  of  "  Copy  " 

T3  ATHER  amusingly,  all  manuscripts 
A^  from  the  pencil  or  pen,  or  copied  out 
on  the  typewriter,  or  printed  matter  which 
has  been  clipped  from  a  book,  magazine,  or 
newspaper  and  is  intended  to  be  reprinted 
as  part  of  another  article,  is  called,  techni- 
cally, "  copy."  This  copy  is  given  to  the 
compositor  and  by  him  set  up  in  type. 

The  first  thing  to  be  remembered  in  pre- 
paring copy  is  that  it  must  never  be  written 
on  both  sides  of  the  paper.  Whether  writ- 
ten by  hand,  copied  by  the  typewriter,  or  a 
page  of  a  magazine  or  another  book,  it 
should  conform  to  this  rule.  An  exception 
may  be  made  when  resetting  a  long  article 
that  is  to  be  taken  from  a  book  or  a  maga- 
zine, and  of  which  it  is  impossible  or  im- 
practicable to  get  two  sets.  Even  in  such 
a  case  some  printers  demand  that  the  copy 


Letters  for  Publication  93 

shall  be  prepared  according  to  rule  before 
it  is  sent  to  the  compositor. 

We  are  here  considering  ordinary  pen- 
written  copy,  which  is  to  be  prepared  by 
some  one  who  is  quite  unfamiliar  with  the 
mechanical  requirements  of  the  printing- 
office.  The  handwriting  should  be  legible, 
and  if  this  requirement  is  attended  to  it 
does  not  matter  very  much  how  small  the 
handwriting  is. 

Editors'  demands  for  their  compositors 
vary  a  great  deal  as  to  the  form  of  their 
copy:  some  will  not  tolerate  anything  but 
typewritten  copy,  with  a  broad  margin  at 
the  left  hand,  and  wide  spacing  between  the 
lines;  others  are  less  exacting.  The  space 
between  the  lines  should  be  wide  enough  to 
enable  the  compositor  to  "  follow  back  "  to 
the  next  line  without  serious  danger  of  set- 
ting up  again  the  line  which  he  has  just 
finished.  For  a  compositor  is  too  often  little 
more  than  a  machine :  he  does  not  read  what 
he  is  setting  up;  it  is  sufficient  for  him  to 
get  the  letters  in  the  order  they  have  in  his 
copy.  It  rests  with  the  proofreader  to  see 
that  the  copy  has  been  adhered  to  strictly. 


94       The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

2.    A  Letter  about  Business  Matters  for  a 
Newspaper 

We  may  consider  this  section  from  two 
standpoints:  first,  the  letter  writer  himself 
takes  the  initiative;  second,  the  editor  of 
the  newspaper  has  asked  for  a  contribution 
in  the  form  of  a  letter.  In  the  first  case  it 
is  just  about  as  likely  that  the  letter  is  a 
complaint  about  something  in  local  admin- 
istration or  civic  requirements,  or  a  protest 
against  something  which  the  writer  believes 
to  be  unfair,  as  it  is  anything  of  a  more 
pleasing  nature.  The  writer  of  a  letter  to 
a  newspaper  will,  if  he  is  properly  thought- 
ful of  others,  first  take  the  trouble  to  see 
just  how  such  communications  are  u  set  up  " 
in  the  columns  of  the  journal  for  which  he 
purposes  to  write,  and  will  be  guided  thereby 
in  preparing  his  own  manuscript.  This  is 
not  really  essential,  however,  because  each 
newspaper  composing-room  has  its  own 
rules,  and  no  matter  how  the  copy  may  be 
sent  in,  the  compositor  will  undoubtedly 
conform  to  rules,  even  if  the  editorial  de- 
partment has  not  done  the  necessary  editing. 

When  the  letter  writer  has  decided  upon 
what  he  purposes  to  say,  he  should  give  the 


Letters  for  Publication  95 

same  careful  attention  to  dividing  his  matter 
into  subjects  and  paragraphs  as  has  been 
suggested  in  other  cases.  He  will  then 
give  some  thought  as  to  how  he  should  ex- 
press his  views,  and  it  is  of  the  same  im- 
portance here  as  in  any  other  case  that 
clearness,  directness,  and  brevity  should  be 
considered.  Any  one  who  reads  at  all  regu- 
larly a  daily  journal  in  the  columns  of 
which  people  are  encouraged  to  express 
their  satisfaction  with  certain  matters,  their 
dissatisfaction  with  many  others,  their  pro- 
tests against  the  unfair  treatment  of  preju- 
diced officials  or  "grinding  monopolies,'' 
must  have  noticed  that  in  a  great  many  of 
these  letters  the  writer  seems  not  to  know 
exactly  what  he  wishes  to  say,  and  even 
when  there  is  a  suggestion  of  what  he  is 
driving  at,  he  expresses  himself  so  badly 
that  other  people  will  not  take  much  trouble 
to  read  his  effusions.  The  same  cautions  are 
appropriate  when  a  business  man  has  been 
asked  to  contribute  an  article;  only,  in  this 
case,  the  general  make-up  of  the  manuscript 
will  be  judged  more  leniently. 


PART  IV 
SOCIAL   CORRESPONDENCE 


CHAPTER    I 
THE  FROTH  OF  SOCIETY 

i.   Invitations  and  Answers 

/T^HE  first  of  these,  invitations,  range  from 
-••  the  sumptuous  engraved  card  down 
through  an  almost  infinite  variety  to  the 
most  informal  communication  written  on  a 
post  card.  In  the  United  States  we  are, 
happily,  not  favored  with  the  display  of 
imperial,  royal,  heraldic  arms  and  titles 
which  burden  our  friends  in  many  other 
lands.  Even  our  President  does  not  "  com- 
mand "  those  whom  he  purposes  to  have  as 
guests  at  the  White  House  table. 

At  other  White  House  social  functions 
the  invitation  usually  recognizes  the  Chief 
Magistrate's  consort,  if  he  is  a  married 
man,  although  this  is  not  an  inflexible  rule. 
The  President  and  Mrs.  Wilson  at  home 
conveys  a  much  coveted  summons.  The 
need  for  a  reply  exists  only  when  the  in- 
vitation is  to  the  President's  table,  or  some 
other  entertainment  which  is  practically  the 


ioo     The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

same  as  in  any  other  household,  and  then 
the  writer  is  particular  to  be  both  formal 
and  respectful. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  tell  intelligent 
readers  that  the  invitations  to  a  definite  en- 
tertainment, at  which  it  is  either  necessary 
or  convenient  for  the  host  or  hostess  to  have 
some  idea  of  the  number  who  will  be  pres- 
ent, must  be  answered.  In  all  cases  when 
there  can  possibly  arise  a  doubt,  it  is  but 
considerate  on  the  part  of  the  entertainer 
to  indicate  her  or  his  pleasure  by  the  simple 
An  answer  is  requested,  or  by  the  abbrevia- 
tion R.  S.  V.  P.  This,  expanded,  is  French: 
Repondez,  s'il  vous  plait,  "  Reply,  if  you 
please. "  But  the  use  of  the  abbreviation 
or  the  French  phrase  is  properly  decreasing. 
Answers  must  conform  to  the  style  of  the 
invitation  itself:  formal  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Jacob  Tufthunter  accept  with  pleasure, 
down  to  the  chummy  Dear  Jack  or  My  dear 
Jill. 

2.    Plans  for  Social  Meetings 

These,  as  here  considered,  generally  have 
to  do  with  the  gathering  together  of  the 
members  of  a  club  and  their  families,  or 
something  of  a  similar  kind.  Not  infre- 


The  Froth  of  Society  1-01 

quently  the  invitation  to  take  part  is  ac- 
companied by  a  request  for  a  contribution 
toward  a  fund  to  defray  expenses,  or  a  noti- 
fication that  admission  will  be  by  ticket  to 
be  had  for  a  fixed  price.  In  cases  where 
exact  knowledge  or  previous  experience 
teaches  what  is  to  be  done,  it  may  be  proper 
to  give  no  definite  answer;  still,  as  it  is 
always  safe  to  err  on  the  right  side,  it  is 
well  to  send  an  answer  when  there  is  a  pos- 
sible doubt. 

Clubs,  associations,  and  the  like  usually 
hold  to  one  form,  and  issue  their  invita- 
tions in  the  association  named  or  through 
its  secretary.  The  answer  will,  of  course, 
be  addressed  just  as  the  invitation  indicates. 
In  clubs,  guilds,  and  associations  which  are 
not  so  distinctly  of  a  social  character,  the 
invitation  is,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  writ- 
ten by  a  member  who  is  the  secretary 
(possibly  chairman  or  president),  and  gives 
the  service  gratuitously.  Inasmuch  as  this 
service  is  always  more  or  less  burdensome 
and  frequently  so  distasteful  that  it  is  the 
most  difficult  matter  to  get  a  member  to  fill 
the  position,  it  ought  to  be  evident  to  all 
that  an  invitation  coming  in  this  way  is  en- 
titled to  an  answer  which  should  be  ex- 


T-o.2.     The-  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

pressed  in  a  friendly  and  appreciative  man- 
ner, but  which  should  never  be  allowed  to 
verge  upon  the  familiar. 

When  a  member  feels  called  upon  to  write 
a  letter  to  his  club,  society,  guild,  or  what- 
ever the  sodality  may  be,  care  should  be 
taken  to  address  the  proper  person  in  the 
right  way,  always  remembering  that  in- 
asmuch as  such  official  communication  must, 
in  the  nature  of  things,  become  somewhat 
common  property,  its  language  and  con- 
struction should  be  properly  guarded. 

3.    Correspondence  with  Club  Members 

As  a  rule,  this  is  of  such  a  purely  formal 
nature  that  frequently  it  is  fully  provided 
for  by  blank  forms.  The  date  and  the 
signature  are  not  in  the  least  troublesome, 
for  when  the  latter  is  not  the  printed  name 
of  the  club  secretary,  the  signature  of  the 
officer  who  is  designated  for  the  purpose  is 
to  be  written.  There  should,  however,  be 
an  intimation  as  to  the  position  of  the 
signer,  which  is  generally  indicated  by 
Miss,  in  a  bracket,  or  if  the  person  is  a 
married  woman,  by  Mrs.  John  Jones,  also 
in  a  bracket.  Other  blanks  are  filled  in  with- 
out difficulty. 


The  Froth  of  Society  103 

There  are,  then,  but  two  points  to  be  con- 
sidered, and  these  are  certainly  important. 
Giving  place  to  the  ladies,  let  us  first  con- 
sider a  woman's  club.  Notices,  letters,  all 
communications  from  a  club  to  its  members 
should  be  addressed  to  Mrs.  Mary  J.  Olive, 
or  Miss  Ruth  Seymour,  Madam.  Very 
precise  authorities  contend  that  the  form 
Madame  is  French,  and  therefore  must  not 
appear  in  English  correspondence;  but  prob- 
ably just  as  many  use  the  Madame  as  the 
Madam.  The  envelope  is  directed  to  Mrs. 
George  W .  Olive,  provided  the  woman  is 
not  a  widow.  When  her  husband  is  dead, 
there  is  no  question  as  to  the  propriety  or 
impropriety  of  continuing  to  address  her 
by  his  name:  it  never  should  be  done;  yet 
the  emphatic  personal  preference  of  the  in- 
dividual is  sometimes  weakly  respected.  But 
there  is  one  form,  illustrated  by  Mrs.  Judge 
Jones  or  Mrs.  Admiral  Smack,  that  should 
not  be  tolerated,  no  matter  who  demands  it. 

In  a  men's  club  the  form  to  be  used  in 
addressing  civilian  or  lay  members  is  to  be 
determined  by  usage :  it  will  be  Mr.  or  Esq. 
Professional  titles  are  usually  and  quite 
properly  respected.  A  majority  of  people 
are  in  favor  of  the  rule  adopted  by  the 


104     The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

National  Academy  of  Science:  in  notices 
and  communications  to  its  members  all  titles 
are  dropped  except  the  simple  one  of  Mr. 

4.    Correspondence  Generally 

Here  is  to  be  noted  the  exception  inti- 
mated in  a  previous  section,  where  it  was 
contended  that  every  one  to  whom  a  letter 
or  note  may  be  sent  is  entitled  to  some  term 
of  courtesy  or  respect.  But  suppose  it  be- 
comes necessary  for  Mrs.  Marshal  Neptune 
to  send  a  note  to  Dinah  Tolliver  about  the 
week's  washing?  It  can  hardly  be  contended 
that  Mrs.  Neptune  is  to  commence  her 
note  Mrs.,  or  Miss,  Dinah  Tolliver,  Dear 
Madam;  and  the  more  familiar  and  friendly 
forms  are  even  less  to  be  considered.  This 
situation  is  dealt  with  in  this  way:  Mrs. 
Neptune  wishes  Dinah  Tolliver  to  come  to 
her  house  at  seven  o'clock  next  Monday 
morning  to  get  the  wash-clothes.  When  Mr. 
Neptune  finds  it  desirable  to  have  the  garden 
dug  up  and  prepared  for  the  spring  plant- 
ing of  seeds,  he  too  adopts  the  third-person 
style,  and  writes :  Mr.  Neptune  wishes  Dan 
McCarthy  to  come  on  Wednesday  next  to 
work  in  his  garden. 

Some  of  the  "  colored  ladies  and  gentle- 


The  Froth  of  Society  105 

men  "  are  disposed  to  resent  this  cutting  off 
of  Mrs.,  Miss,  and  Mr.y  but  their  protest 
must  be  ignored.  The  words  "  ladies  "  and 
"  gentlemen  "  were  long  ago  brought  down 
from  their  high  place,  and  even  now  they 
are  too  frequently  dragged  in  the  mire, 
when  "  the  garbage  gentleman "  comes  to 
inquire  if  "  the  laundress  lady  "  will  accom- 
pany him  to  the  ball  to  be  given  by  "  the 
United  Brethren  of  the  Grand  Order  of 
Shining  Sons  of  Ephraim." 

In  social  correspondence  generally  great 
care  should  be  taken  not  to  double  up 
titles  improperly.  In  continental  Europe 
there  is  practically  no  objection  to  this;  a 
man  is  Herr-Doctor-Professor  X,  and  as 
many  heraldic  titles  are  prefixed  and  aca- 
demic degrees  added  as  he  can  claim.  In 
Great  Britain  also  this  is  somewhat  the  case. 
In  the  United  States  this  objectionable  cus- 
tom is  spreading  a  little,  although  there  is 
still  a  strong  objection  among  sensible  men 
to  mixing  up  judicial,  military,  or  profes- 
sional titles  with  academic  designations. 


CHAPTER    II 

THE  PITFALLS  OF  SOCIAL  CORRESPONDENCE 

i.    To  whom  are  you  writing  and  about 
what? 

THE  question  may  seem  to  be  a  very 
simple  one,  so  much  so  as  to  excite  a 
smile  of  complacency.  But  it  is  not  by 
any  means  such  an  easy  thing  for  a  letter 
writer  to  determine  exactly  to  whom  he 
or  she  is  writing.  I  recall  the  case  of  an 
American  resident  in  Japan  who  wished 
to  get  certain  information.  He  was  told 
by  a  native  friend  that  he  should  apply  to 
the  minister  of  education.  The  official's 
name  was  given.  The  Japanese  friend 
naturally  assumed  that  an  American  who 
had  been  graduated  from  a  college  in  his 
native  land,  had  wandered  so  far  away  from 
home,  and  was  presuming  to  teach  the  Eng- 
lish language  in  Japan,  knew  something 
about  the  usages  of  society. 

Now  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  carefully 
that  the  proper  title  of  this  official,   when 


The  Pitfalls  of  Social  Correspondence     107 

given  in  its  nearest  English  equivalent,  is 
"  His  Imperial  Majesty's  Minister  of  State 
for  Education";  that  he  is  a  member  of 
the  Mikado's  cabinet;  and  that  the  Mikado 
is  an  hereditary  monarch,  who  is  considered 
by  all  of  his  subjects  to  be  the  representa- 
tive on  earth  of  an  unbroken  line  of  sover- 
eigns, "  descended  through  ages  eternal " 
from  the  gods  themselves.  As  some  of  His 
Majesty's  glory  shines  upon  his  cabinet,  it 
is  evident  that  the  Minister  of  Education  is 
rather  an  impressive  person.  He  is  prop- 
erly addressed  as  Excellency. 

My  American  friend,  totally  ignorant  of 
social  conventions  at  home  and,  of  course, 
utterly  at  a  loss  as  to  what  he  ought  to 
do  abroad,  used  some  ordinary  note-paper; 
began  his  letter,  My  dear  Mr.  Sato  (of 
course  Sato  was  not  the  Minister's  name!)  ; 
wrote  in  the  familiar  way  that  he  would 
have  used  in  corresponding  with  his  neigh- 
boring farmer  in  Kansas;  and  closed  the 
letter,  Yours  sincerely.  That  ignoramus 
got  off  very  easily  in  merely  having  his  let- 
ter ignored  entirely,  for  it  was  quite  within 
the  rights  of  the  Minister  to  summon  the 
offender  to  his  office  in  Tokyo  and  give  him 
a  lecture  on  the  propriety  of  correspond- 


io8      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

ence.  This  amusing  episode  ought,  possibly, 
to  have  been  alluded  to  in  the  chapter  re- 
lating to  official  correspondence;  but  my 
friend  seemed  to  think  he  was  doing  some- 
thing entirely  social,  and  his  stupidity  is  a 
warning  to  others,  that  they  first  make  sure 
to  whom  they  are  going  to  write  and  what 
they  wish  to  say. 

2.    The  Form  of  Letters,  Notes,  Invitations, 
and  Answers 

We  are  considering  social  correspondence, 
which  has  nothing  to  do  with  business,  buy- 
ing and  selling,  building  and  tearing  down. 
Beginning  with  letters  of  introduction :  these 
may  be  considered  as  of  several  types  or 
classes.  First,  there  is  the  very  formal  busi- 
ness letter:  this  amounts  to  nothing  more 
than  an  identification.  It  is  not  supposed 
to  give  the  bearer  any  social  claim  upon  the 
addressee:  indeed  its  function  is  pretty 
nearly  the  same  as  a  passport  without  any 
of  the  latter's  benefits. 

Second,  there  is  the  perfunctory  letter  of 
introduction  which,  for  any  one  of  a  score 
of  reasons,  has  to  be  given  because  it  has 
been  requested.  This  is  most  common  in 
business  circles  and  is  assumed  to  mean  al- 


The  Pitfalls  of  Social  Correspondence     109 

most  nothing.  Sometimes  the  bearer  of  such 
a  letter  asks  for  club  and  social  introduc- 
tions which  are  politely  evaded,  and  the  ad- 
dressee declines  all  such  responsibility. 

Third,  there  is  the  warm,  sincere,  private 
letter  of  introduction,  that  literally  means 
what  it  says  in  asking  the  addressee  to  do 
for  the  bearer  just  what  would  be  done  for 
the  writer.  The  bearer  of  a  letter  of  in- 
troduction, no  matter  to  what  class  it  be- 
longs, is  assumed  not  to  read  it;  when  he 
presents  it,  he  sends  his  card  with  it,  and 
the  manner  of  the  addressee  will  make  it 
plain  to  a  person  of  ordinary  intelligence 
just  what  the  tone  of  the  letter  was. 

Social  notes  range  from  the  most  formal 
style  of  composition  to  the  very  friendliest, 
and  this  type  of  correspondence  permits  of 
great  variety  in  stationery;  but  it  will  be 
found  that  cultured  people  do  not  approve 
of  the  extremes  in  color,  embossing,  and  the 
use  of  heraldic  devices  which  are  affected 
by  some.  As  a  general  rule,  persons  of 
good  taste  are  satisfied  with  a  monogram, 
or  a  scroll,  or  a  neatly  engraved  address. 
Invitations,  as  has  already  been  intimated, 
range  from  the  engraved  form:  Major- 
General  and  Mrs.  Walter  Scott  request  your 


no     The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

presence  at  the  marriage  of  their  daughter, 
Mabel,  to  Lieutenant  William  Grant,  United 
States  Army,  and  then  follow  the  place,  the 
date,  and  the  hour,  to  the  formal  business 
card  of  identification.  In  cases  where  a  large 
attendance  is  expected,  and  an  attempt  is 
made  to  be  somewhat  exclusive,  an  engraved 
card  of  admission  is  enclosed.  Answers 
must  conform  in  their  style  to  that  of  the 
invitation:  formal,  friendly,  or  intimate,  as 
the  case  may  be. 

3.    What  Information  to  impart  and  how 
to  give  it 

Letters  of  any  length  are  not  considered 
here.  There  may  be  occasion  to  write  some- 
thing more  than  a  mere  note,  but  this  is  done 
to  give  information  about  some  event  of 
special  importance,  and  the  communication 
should  never  be  at  all  discursive.  The  sub- 
ject should  be  kept  to  very  strictly,  and  the 
communication  should  be  thoroughly  con- 
sistent in  its  style  as  to  first  or  third  person. 
Even  an  invitation  to  a  bridge  party,  when 
the  affair  is  altogether  informal,  had  better 
be  concise  and  to  the  point.  When  it  passes 
beyond  this,  it  is  a  letter  which  will  be  con- 
sidered in  the  next  chapter. 


The  Pitfalls  of  Social  Correspondence     1 1 1 

A  word  of  caution  may  very  properly  be 
given  here  as  to  the  importance  of  making 
these  purely  social  communications,  whether 
invitations  or  answers,  quite  clear  in  the 
information  to  be  imparted.  If  the  hostess 
wishes  her  guests  to  come  at  three  o'clock 
and  stay  until  six,  let  her  say  so;  and  it 
seems  to  most  people  that  this  should  mean 
what  it  says.  But  local  custom  will  deter- 
mine how  literally  this  limitation  of  time 
is  to  be  observed.  In  some  places  "  three 
o'clock  "  means  any  time  up  to  four  or  five, 
and  the  "  six  o'clock  "  is  taken  to  give  lib- 
erty to  stay  as  long  as  the  invited  guest 
chooses  to  remain.  That  this  is  condemned 
by  the  best  people  of  our  largest  social 
centers  is  the  conviction  of  many  competent 
authorities. 

4.    The  Use  of  the  First  Person,  Singular  or 

Plural,  marks  the  Friendly  or  the 

Formal 

In  the  first  case,  such  letters,  notes,  or 
invitations  should  begin  somewhat  thus: 
My  dear  Mrs.  Smith,  and  its  scope  may  in- 
clude not  only  Mr.  Smith,  but  your  daugh- 
ters, and  when  quite  informal  and  friendly, 
even  your  son;  it  being  customary  to 


H2      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

mention   the  young   people   by   their   given 
names. 

When  the  invitation  comes  from  a  mar- 
ried woman,  not  a  widow,  she  uses  the 
plural  form:  We  shall  be  pleased  to  have 
you  dine  with  us,  at  such  an  hour  on  such 
a  date,  and  if  there  is  to  be  a  dance  after 
dinner,  the  fact  may  be  stated  in  the  body 
of  the  invitation,  always  so  when  the  invi- 
tation is  friendly  and  informal,  or  intimated 
by  the  word  Dancing  below  the  signature 
and  at  the  left-hand  margin.  Such  an  in- 
vitation imperatively  demands  an  answer, 
expressed  in  the  same  tone  as  the  invitation. 

When  the  third  person  is  used:  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Smith  present  their  compliments  andt 
will  be  pleased,  etc.,  great  care  must  be  taken 
not  to  deviate  from  the  third  person  form. 
The  same  precaution  must  be  taken  in  writing 
the  answer,  whether  of  acceptance  or  of 
regret,  that  is,  declining.  Nothing  marks 
the  inexperienced  person  more  distinctly, 
and  subjects  her  or  him  to  ridicule  so  se- 
verely, as  confusion  in  the  use  of  the  first 
and  third  person  when  writing  an  invitation 
or  an  answer  thereto.  To  begin  an  invita- 
tion, Mrs.  Dahlgreen  presents  her  compli- 
ments to  Mrs.  Armentrout,  and  requests  the 


The  Pitfalls  of  Social  Correspondence     113 

pleasure  of  her  company  at  luncheon  at  one 
o'clock  on  Thursday,  the  fifteenth  of  June, 
nineteen  hundred  and  thirteen,  and  then  go 
on  with  I  am  expecting  my  old  school-mate, 
Miss  Jane  Riverside,  and  I  am  anxious  for 
you  to  meet  her,  is  a  mixture  that  cannot 
be  tolerated.  Some  inexperienced  persons 
think  there  is  danger  of  confusion  in  using 
so  many  "  hers,"  but  this  is  needless 
apprehension. 


CHAPTER    III 

LOVE  LETTERS 

i.  An  Elderly  Man  falls  in  Love  with  a 
Woman  of  Comparable  Age,  or  with  a 
Younger  One 

'T^HERE  is  no  law,  legislative,  social,  or 
-*-  ethical,  which  forbids  a  woman  taking 
the  initiative  in  this  delicate  correspondence; 
but  the  unwritten  law  of  custom  seems  to 
have  decided  that  it  is  improper  for  a 
woman  to  declare  her  feelings  with  a  view 
to  matrimony.  There  are,  of  course,  love 
letters  of  passion,  but  with  such  we  have 
nothing  to  do  in  this  book.  In  a  love  affair 
which  has  gone  far  enough  with  the  elderly 
man  to  justify  him  in  his  own  opinion  and 
hopes,  and  to  warrant  him  in  declaring  his 
feelings  and  asking  a  response,  it  will  be, 
and  it  had  better  be,  the  man  who  makes 
the  first  overture  to  marriage. 

We  are  likely  to  find  the  elderly  swain 
somewhat  held  back  by  his  timidity.  The 
fire  of  youth  is  supposed  to  make  the  youth- 


Love  Letters  115 

ful  lover  so  confident  in  himself  that  very 
often  he  feels  that  he  has  but  to  ask  for  a 
girl's  hand  to  secure  it.  But  this  self-com- 
placency, often  amounting  to  great  vanity, 
is  not  infallibly  restricted  to  youth;  some- 
times the  older  man  is  quite  as  presump- 
tuous, not  to  say  offensive,  in  this  matter 
as  is  the  youngster,  yet  we  are  writing  for 
the  general  run  of  people,  not  for  the 
exceptional. 

First,  then,  let  us  assume  that  the  man 
wishes  to  write  to  some  one  of  about  his 
own  age.  Both  of  them  are  certain  to  give 
more  thought  to  the  creature  comforts  of 
life  than  young  people  usually  do.  There- 
fore, after  paying  some  tribute  to  the  lady's 
personality,  and  perhaps  touching  upon  the 
occasion  when  and  the  circumstances  in 
which  Cupid  shot  his  bow  with  admirable 
precision,  it  will  be  advisable,  in  asking  for 
the  lady's  hand  in  marriage,  to  give  some 
specific  information  as  to  the  writer's  ability 
to  provide  his  wife,  if  he  is  so  fortunate 
as  to  secure  one,  with  a  home,  comforts, 
and  it  may  be  even  luxuries. 

That  the  man's  own  personality  and  his 
merits  may  properly  be  depreciated  is  almost 
self-evident.  But  "  faint  heart  never  won 


n6     The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

fair  lady,"  and  care  should  be  taken  that 
self-depreciation  does  not  go  so  far  as 
to  become  self-condemnation.  When  the 
elderly  man  writes  to  a  much  younger 
woman,  the  importance  of  apology  for  a 
seeming  presumption  and  the  almost  abso- 
lute necessity  for  trying  to  make  advantage 
of  position  or  fortune  offset  (perhaps)  dis- 
parity in  ages,  are  of  great  importance. 

2.    A  Young  Man  expresses  his  Feelings  to 
a  Girl  of  Appropriate  Age 

It  is  probably  true  that  in  nine  cases  out 
of  ten  wherein  two  young  people  have  gone 
on  in  their  association  to  the  point  when 
the  young  man  wishes  to  declare  himself 
by  letter,  there  will  have  been  a  gradual 
development  of  correspondence.  Beginning 
with  the  absolutely  formal  "  third-person 
style,"  when  Mr.  A.  presents  his  compli- 
ments to  Miss  B.  etc.,  passing  through 
the  My  dear  Miss  B.,  Dear  Miss  Alice, 
progress  will  quite  likely  have  gone  on  until 
the  Dear  Prue  stage  has  been  reached.  In 
such  a  case  there  will  certainly  have  been 
sufficient  encouragement  offered  the  young 
man  to  justify  his  assuming  that  his  ad- 
yances  will  not  be  spurned.  The  heartless 


Love  Letters  117 

coquette  and  the  conscienceless  flirt  are  rec- 
ognized as  existing,  but  they  are  not  entitled 
to  consideration  here. 

It  comes  about,  then,  that  the  young, 
honorable  man  ought  to  consider  his  own 
material  circumstances,  as  well  as  the  home 
surroundings  and  expectations  of  the  girl, 
and  think  well  about  possible  sacrifices  on 
her  part  before  he  lets  his  attentions  be- 
come marked  enough  to  deter  other  young 
men  from  showing  polite  attentions  to  the 
young  lady,  and  before  he  writes  that  first 
real  love-letter. 

Nowadays  our  girls  are  divided  into  two 
classes:  those  who  marry  for  love  and  all 
that  this  means;  and  those  who  marry  for 
material  gain.  Fortunately,  the  number  of 
the  former  class  is  so  entirely  disproportion- 
ate to  that  of  the  other  as  to  make  it  hardly 
necessary  for  us  to  give  any  consideration  to 
those  who  are  willing  to  accept  what  has 
been  most  appropriately  called  "  Gilded 
Slavery." 

3.   The  Woman,  Old  or  Young,  replies 

In  the  case  of  the  elderly  man  of  whom 
we  have  thought  as  writing  a  letter  to  some 
one  who  is  of  appropriate  age,  it  seems  as 


n8      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

if  there  should  be  little  difficulty  in  an  edu- 
cated woman  knowing  just  how  to  word  her 
reply.  Assuming  that  she  has  seen  sufficient 
indication  in  the  man's  attitude  and  atten- 
tions to  justify  her  in  expecting  something 
of  the  kind  from  him,  she  will  perhaps  have 
prepared  herself  for  the  situation.  It  then 
seems  to  be  but  a  simple  matter  for  her  to 
determine  whether  she  will  make  her  reply 
affirmative,  conditionally  so,  or  negative. 

But  the  case  which  we  have  imagined 
quite  frequently  occurs  with  those  who  are 
not  sufficiently  well  prepared  by  education 
to  know  how  to  treat  the  matter.  It  is  most 
important  that  the  tone  of  the  reply  should 
be  a  dignified  one,  and  that  nothing  should 
be  said  which  may  wound  the  sensitive  man 
or  over-flatter  a  vain  one.  In  the  case  of 
a  young  woman  she  will  probably  ask  as- 
sistance, or  a  suggestion  at  least,  from  her 
mother,  or  some  older  woman  relative  or 
friend  who  is  competent  to  give  useful  ad- 
vice. In  the  rare  case  of  one  who  is  entirely 
alone  in  such  matters,  it  is  most  important 
that  she  should  word  her  reply  with  the 
greatest  circumspection.  As  we  have  indi- 
cated, probably  the  man  who  offers  himself 
has  been  an  acquaintance  of  some  years' 


Love  Letters  119 

standing,  and  the  familiarity  which  this  will 
indicate  may  sometimes  be  rather  an  em- 
barrassment. In  any  case  we  should  very 
earnestly  disapprove  of  anything  resem- 
bling extravagance  or  improper  warmth  of 
expression. 

4.   The  Old  and  New  Styles  of  Love  Letters 

It  is  most  interesting  and  amusing  to  look 
at  some  of  the  printed  love-letters  which 
appear  in  the  books  of  a  hundred  years  ago. 
When  these  were  written  by  educated  men, 
they  wander  through  the  fields  of  classical 
literature,  and  the  lady  to  whom  they  are 
addressed  is  given  all  the  charm  and  at- 
tributes of  the  very  fairest  of  the  goddesses. 
Furthermore,  the  writer  of  the  letter  usu- 
ally made  himself  out  to  be  the  very  "  worm 
of  the  dust,"  and  self-depreciation  really 
rivaled  that  of  the  people  of  eastern  Asia 
when  speaking  of  anything  which  belongs 
to  themselves. 

In  the  present  day  there  is  probably  a 
very  wide  range  in  the  style  of  composition 
adopted  by  the  writers  of  tender  and  affec- 
tionate letters  of  the  kind  which  we  are 
now  considering.  Some  of  them  are  re- 
markably poetical,  and  quite  as  tender  as 


I2O      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

were  those  or  the  grandfathers  and  grand- 
mothers of  the  writers.  But  this  is  rather 
a  practical  age,  and  even  the  masculine 
writer  of  a  love  letter  is  very  likely  to  con- 
sider time  as  of  some  importance,  so  that 
he  will  therefore  express  himself  with  a 
directness  which,  after  all,  is  most  likely  to 
be  pleasing  to  the  up-to-date  young  woman, 
who  may  be  already  a  suffragette,  or  a  club 
woman,  or  having  many  irons  in  the  fire, 
so  that  with  her,  too,  "  time  is  money." 
Still  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  exces- 
sive warmth  of  expression  is  now  thought 
to  be  rather  bad  "  form."  We  find  abun- 
dant justification  for  this  opinion  in  the  way 
most  people  have  read  the  letters  (of  the 
kind  which  we  disapprove)  that  have  ap- 
peared in  the  newspapers  as  evidence  or  as 
indirect  testimony  in  some  of  the  sensational 
breach-of-promise  cases,  or  sometimes  in  the 
unpleasant  divorce  suits. 

5.    The  Correspondence  develops  in 
Intenseness 

The  first  letter  from  the  soliciting  swain, 
whether  he  is  the  elderly  man  who  has  been 
mentioned,  or  the  youthful  lover,  having 
been  so  blessed  as  to  meet  with  a  favorable 


Love  Letters  121 

response,  it  is  but  natural  to  suppose  that 
the  correspondence  will  continue  until  the 
"  consummation  devoutly  to  be  wished  "  has 
been  reached.  The  assumption  of  this  whole 
chapter  has  been  that  the  two  parties  in  in- 
terest are  living  in  places  so  far  apart  that 
frequent  calls  by  the  man  are  not  practi- 
cable. When  the  two  are  living  in  the  same 
place,  correspondence  is  naturally  limited  to 
brief  notes,  and  these  will,  of  course,  ex- 
press sentiments  with  gradually  increasing 
warmth.  When  the  parties  are  separated 
by  such  a  distance  as  to  make  it  necessary 
to  use  the  mails,  the  correspondence  will 
be  of  similar  development  in  frequency  and 
warmth  of  expression;  but  the  letters  will 
be  of  some  length.  It  is  hardly  possible  to 
give  even  a  general  suggestion  as  to  the 
tone  of  such  correspondence,  for  "  love  is 
blind,"  and  it  is  not  probable  that  the  aver- 
age writer  of  these  letters  will  ever  have  in 
mind  the  remotest  possibility  of  their  being 
seen  by  any  one  but  the  person  to  whom 
they  are  addressed.  Indeed,  it  may  safely 
be  said  that  the  correspondence  will  now 
have  reached  that  stage  of  intimacy  and 
confidence  that  a  suggestion  from  an  out- 
sider would  be  altogether  out  of  place. 


CHAPTER    IV 

FRIENDLY  LETTERS 

i.    Parents  to  Children 

A  LTHOUGH  "  Lord  Chesterfield's  Let- 
*•  ters  to  his  Son  "  are  still  considered  to 
be  excellent  models  of  their  kind,  yet  we 
can  hardly  recommend  such  style  to  the 
parents  of  the  present  day.  A  father,  as 
a  rule,  usually  considers  his  part  of  this  cor- 
respondence to  be  restricted  to  an  occasional 
note  to  his  sons;  leaving  more  lengthy  let- 
ters, and  especially  letters  to  daughters,  to 
the  mother.  In  addressing  a  child  a  man 
will  naturally  be  satisfied  with  such  an  ex- 
pression as  My  dear  John,  or  My  dear  Son. 
After  that  the  tone  of  the  letter  will  depend 
entirely  upon  the  matter  to  be  considered, 
and  the  measure  of  intimacy  that  exists  be- 
tween the  two.  It  sometimes  happens  that 
the  father  must  write  to  his  son  in  a  re- 
proving way,  and  when  this  disagreeable 
necessity  occurs  it  is  well  to  remember  that 


Friendly  Letters  123 

very  often  a  written  reproof  has  a  more 
enduring  effect  than  the  spoken  one.  There- 
fore let  a  word  of  caution  be  given  here 
that  before  putting  the  rebuke  into  writing 
the  father  give  very  careful  consideration 
to  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  and  as  to 
just  what  he  will  say.  That  happiness,  which 
is  the  most  desirable  thing  in  the  whole 
world  to  be  preserved  in  the  family  circle, 
must  be  safeguarded  here  in  this  matter  of 
correspondence  quite  as  much  as  in  the  per- 
sonal intercourse  of  the  home.  There  are 
many  men  who  treasure  letters  from  their 
parents  as  amongst  their  most  precious  be- 
longings. In  one  particular  case  that  comes 
to  my  mind,  the  letter  was  written  by  the 
mother  to  a  son  who  had  been  so  unfor- 
tunate as  to  incur  severe  discipline  at  the 
hands  of  his  college  faculty.  The  mother 
alluded  to  the  young  man's  misdemeanor  in 
the  very  gentlest  manner  and  with  but  a 
few  words;  but  she  took  from  the  episode 
a  lesson  as  to  the  young  man's  future,  and 
expressed  herself  in  such  a  manner  that  not 
only  was  there  repentance  sincere  and  last- 
ing on  the  son's  part,  but  his  future  career 
was  then  and  there  decided  upon  entirely 
different  lines  from  what  his  parents  and  he 


124      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

had  previously  considered.  There  is,  in  this 
matter  of  letters  from  parents  to  children, 
such  an  infinite  range  of  possibility  that  no 
outsider  feels  competent  to  offer  anything 
like  definite  suggestion. 

2.    Children  to  Parents  and  Older  Relatives 

If  the  opportunity  were  given  to  read  such 
correspondence,  a  very  accurate  opinion  as 
to  the  existing  relationship  could  be  easily 
formed.  In  the  case  of  a  young  man  at 
college  who  has  occasion  to  write  to  his 
father  asking  for  something  additional  to 
his  regular  allowance,  for  the  purpose  of 
doing  something  that  is  not  at  all  essential, 
it  is  easy  to  read  between  the  lines,  and 
from  such  reading  to  determine  whether  or 
not  the  youth  really  expects  his  father  to 
grant  his  request.  Again,  when  a  young  girl 
is  away  from  home  at  a  boarding-school,  it 
is  easy  to  think  of  a  somewhat  similar  ex- 
perience in  her  case,  but  now  the  letter  will 
doubtless  go  to  her  mother;  and  again  the 
character  of  the  intimacy  which  should  exist 
between  the  two  is  at  once  indicated  by  the 
tone  of  the  letter.  It  therefore  becomes 
very  evident  that  the  surroundings  of  the 
home  will  be  indicated  in  this  correspond- 


Friendly  Letters  125 

ence.  With  letters  from  either  parent  to 
younger  children,  there  is  of  course  a  tone 
which  varies  from  the  nursery  language  up 
to  that  which  is  proper  for  children  who 
are  partly  grown.  In  the  same  way  corre- 
spondence between  children  and  older  rela- 
tives is  to  be  marked  by  the  same  consider- 
ation on  the  part  of  the  young  people  for 
any  peculiarity  of  the  older  ones.  If  we 
listen  to  the  conversation  of  children  now- 
adays, it  must  be  admitted  that  altogether 
too  frequently  this  is  not  always  pleasing  to 
the  ears  of  their  relatives  and  friends.  We 
would  not  entirely  suppress  the  forms  of 
speech  which  are  properly  called  "  slangy," 
because,  as  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  has 
said,  there  is  something  picturesque  about 
slang  which  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  pre- 
cise language  of  those  who  are  always 
guarded  in  their  speech;  although,  as  he 
said,  we  are  in  this  matter  a  long  way  be- 
hind the  ancient  Greeks.  But  while  we 
would  not  altogether  disapprove  of  slang, 
yet  it  is  well  to  give  a  very  strong  caution 
to  young  people  that  when  they  are  writing 
letters  to  older  people  they  should  refrain 
from  the  use  of  anything  approaching  slang 
which  may  verge  upon  the  vulgar.  Another 


126     The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

thing  that  young  people  should  try  to  re- 
member is  that  every  boarding-school,  col- 
lege, and  university  has  its  own  peculiar  lan- 
guage, which  is  often  entirely  unintelligible 
to  those  who  are  not  connected  with  the 
institution  or  do  not  live  in  the  same  town. 
Now,  when  a  boy  or  a  girl  is  writing  from 
such  surroundings  to  a  parent  or  an  older 
relative,  the  letter  should  very  carefully 
avoid  this  local  form  of  speech. 

3.    Correspondence  between  Adult  Relatives 
and  Connections 

Grown-up  people,  outside  of  the  immedi- 
ate family  circle,  are  not,  as  a  general  rule, 
very  liberal  in  the  matter  of  writing  letters. 
They  are  usually  restricted  to  giving  infor- 
mation as  to  some  matter  of  importance, 
such  as  a  birth,  a  marriage,  or  a  death.  In 
such  cases  the  tone  of  the  letter  varies 
greatly.  The  style  of  address  is  very  dif- 
ferent according  to  locality,  custom,  or  de- 
gree of  intimacy  which  has  existed  between 
the  parties  to  the  correspondence.  As  a 
general  rule,  it  is  quite  sufficient  to  begin 
such  a  letter  with  the  phrase  My  dear  John, 
although  a  good  many  people  think,  and 
quite  properly,  that  if  some  relationship 


Friendly  Letters  127 

exists,  such  as  Aunt,  Uncle,  Cousin,  etc.,  it 
is  right  to  prefix  the  title  of  relationship. 
This  is  entirely  a  matter  of  individual  taste. 
In  the  correspondence  which  is  now  being 
considered,  the  general  opinion  is  that  any- 
thing approaching  extravagance  in  language 
should  be  avoided.  The  word  Dearest  is 
one  that  had  better  be  discarded  altogether 
from  letter  writing.  A  very  good  reason 
for  cutting  out  this  superlative  expression 
was  given  by  a  married  woman  to  her  hus- 
band when  he  returned  from  an  absence. 
He  had  written  quite  frequently,  and  had 
begun  his  letters  thus :  My  dearest  wife.  It 
should  be  mentioned  here,  parenthetically, 
that  the  two  had  not  been  married  very 
long,  and  that  this  had  been  the  first  separa- 
tion in  which  there  was  any  reason  for  writ- 
ing. The  wife,  who  had  been  a  school 
teacher,  said  to  her  husband,  Why  did  you 
call  me  "dearest"?  Do  you  not  know  that 
this  is  the  superlative  form  of  "dear"? 
When  the  word  is  used  it  means  that  there 
are  certainly  two  more  at  least  who  are  also 
"  dear"  Now,  when  you  call  me  your 
"  dearest  wife "  am  I  to  assume  that  you 
have  at  least  two  more  wives  somewhere 
else?  This  of  course  is  only  a  witty  story, 


128      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

but  nevertheless  it  contains  a  very  excellent 
moral,  and  that  is  to  avoid  extravagance  of 
language.  Some  very  sarcastic  person  has 
said  that  we  are  all  apt  to  express  ourselves 
in  superlatives.  It  has  been  declared  that 
wildly  exciting,  thrillingly  gay,  perfectly 
lovely,  is  the  order  of  the  day. 

4.    Correspondence  between  Youthful 
Relatives  and  Connections 

I  think  that  if  I  really  wished  to  pry  into 
the  secrets  of  two  families  who  were  related 
by  blood  or  connected  by  marriage,  or  if 
I  had  any  design  upon  the  peace  and  hap- 
piness of  two  households  who  had  no  such 
connection  but  in  which,  whether  relation- 
ship or  merely  acquaintance  existed,  there 
was  a  correspondence  going  on  between  two 
of  the  youthful  members,  I  should  try  to 
have  a  look  at  the  letters  passing  between 
those  two  young  people ;  there  would  be  the 
place  to  find  whatever  of  gossip  or  betrayal 
of  secrets,  or  the  display  of  the  family 
skeleton,  would  be  most  certain  to  exist.  I 
fear  that  parents  do  not  nowadays  exert 
themselves  sufficiently  to  induce  (I  was  al- 
most tempted  to  say  "compel")  brothers 
and  sisters  to  keep  up  correspondence  with 


Friendly  Letters  129 

their  absent  brother  or  sister,  and  to  write 
regularly  and  frequently  to  the  junior  mem- 
ber of  the  family  who  goes  away  from  home 
to  school  or  on  a  visit.  This  persuasion, 
or  compulsion,  should  be  exercised  with 
those  who  are  away.  If  more  of  this  sort 
of  correspondence  were  done,  it  seems  to 
me  that  it  would  result  in  something  like  a 
revival  of  what  some  cynical  persons  con- 
tinually declare  is  "  the  lost  art  of  letter 
writing/' 

One  reason  for  this  opinion  is  a  practical 
one,  and  there  are  many  sentimental  ones; 
it  is  that  brothers  and  sisters  are  often  just 
the  kind  of  merciless  critics  whose  remarks 
do  more  to  correct  evils  in  style  and  com- 
position than  all  the  harpings  of  a  teacher 
or  the  persuasion  of  a  parent  can  accom- 
plish. Letters  from  brothers,  sisters,  and 
cousins  are  not  only  likely  to  exert  a  good 
influence  in  helping  both  correspondents  to 
gain  in  style  and  expression,  but  they  are 
almost  sure  to  tell  of  home  affairs  in  a  way 
that  will  help  the  absent  one  to  see  how 
life  at  home  may  be  made  more  pleasant 
and  more  "  homey  ";  while  the  letters  which 
the  absent  one  writes  are  almost  equally  sure 
to  exert  a  good  influence. 


130     The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

But  there  is  a  word  of  caution  to  be 
spoken  here,  and  that  is  to  avoid  all  idle 
gossip  and  tale-bearing;  for  these  never 
serve  any  good  purpose.  Let  these  letters 
be  as  intimate  and  communicative  as  pos- 
sible, but  avoid  all  "  gush."  They  should 
be  carefully  arranged,  mechanically;  that 
is,  the  date  given  in  its  proper  place,  which 
—  in  this  type  of  letter  —  may  be  either 
at  the  beginning  or  at  the  end,  after  the 
signature.  Here  I  wish  to  condemn  a  habit 
which  is  thought  by  some  to  be  rather  "  ele- 
gant " :  it  is  to  write  the  day  of  the  week 
without  any  date.  This  may  be  tolerated 
in  a  note  which  passes  quickly  (in  the  same 
day)  from  writer  to  receiver  in  the  same 
place,  and  is  supposed  to  be  at  once  de- 
stroyed; but  I  think  it  should  never  be  fol- 
lowed when  a  letter  is  written  to  go  any 
distance,  and  the  correspondence  is  really  a 
letter.  The  other  details  of  arrangement 
should  be  observed  carefully,  and  whatever 
information  is  given  deserves  its  proper 
share  of  consideration.  No  serious  objec- 
tion can  be  raised  to  the  use  of  pet  names 
or  even  nicknames,  although  these  should 
not  be  carried  too  far.  It  is  a  good  plan 
for  these  youthful  correspondents  to  have  a 


Friendly  Letters  131 

dictionary  at  hand  and  to  consult  it  fre- 
quently. That  grammar  and  rhetoric  must 
be  carefully  watched,  and  all  slang  which 
verges  on  vulgarity  be  avoided,  does  not 
need  to  be  asserted. 


CHAPTER    V 

FAMILIAR  LETTERS 

i.    Correspondence  between  Adult 
Acquaintances 

ERE  are  not  many  people  who  are 
favored  by  nature  and  qualified  by  ex- 
perience and  education  to  write  such  letters 
as  those  which  passed  between  Edward 
("Ned")  Delaney  and  John  ("Jack") 
Flemming,  and  which  make  up  one  of  the 
most  charming  stories  in  American  (or  any 
other)  literature,  "  Marjorie  Daw."  Other 
examples  of  almost  ideal  correspondence 
between  two  women,  young  or  old,  or  a 
woman  and  a  man,  or  two  men  friends, 
might  be  mentioned  —  there  are  plenty  of 
them;  but  it  is  enough  for  my  purpose  to 
refer  to  Thomas  Bailey  Aldrich's  master- 
piece. 

In  this  chapter  it  is  intended  to  discuss 
only  familiar  and  social  letters.  Business 
and  official  correspondence  between  indi- 
viduals should  conform,  conditions  being 


Familiar  Letters  133 

duly  considered,  to  the  rules  accepted  as 
governing  the  correspondence  of  firms  and 
corporations.  The  details  of  post-office  ad- 
dress, place,  and  date  are  not  yet  absolutely 
and  arbitrarily  fixed,  and  probably  never 
will  be,  since  there  cannot  be  a  board  of 
arbitration;  yet  consideration  for  others 
and  good  taste  will  surely  suggest  that  there 
should  be  no  obscurity  about  such  matters, 
or  abbreviations  which  may  mislead.  In  the 
United  States  I  think  there  is  no  great 
danger  of  confusion  when,  in  a  hasty,  famil- 
iar note,  a  person  writes  "  4/5/13  ";  it  will 
be  read  "  April  5,  1913."  But  in  most 
parts  of  the  British  Empire  it  would  be  read 
"  4th  of  May."  All  danger  of  confusion 
is  avoided  by  refraining  from  such  an 
abbreviation. 

Very  frequently,  for  this  correspondence 
between  adults  (and  younger  persons  as 
well),  stationery  is  used  which  bears  the 
writer's  private  address,  or,  in  the  case  of 
a  man,  that  of  his  club.  The  degree  of 
intimacy  that  has  been  established  between 
the  parties  will  determine  the  mode  of  the 
personal  address;  whether  it  shall  be  My 
dear  Mr.  Washington,  My  dear  Washing- 
ton, or  Dear  Tom;  yet  care  should  be  taken 


134      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

that  the  nole  or  letter  is  consistent  through- 
out. It  should  be  manifest  to  all  that  a 
communication  which  began  in  the  first- 
mentioned  style  ought  not  to  enter  upon 
ground  so  familiar  as  that  which  should 
properly  be  trod  only  by  such  intimate 
friends  as  Tom  and  Jack.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  would  seem  decidedly  incongruous 
and  stilted  if  Tom  phrased  some  part  of 
what  is  otherwise  an  entirely  intimate  letter 
in  the  same  precise  manner  he  would  be 
expected  to  employ  when  writing  to  the 
president  of  his  university. 

There  is  yet  one  more  matter  to  be  con- 
sidered. It  is  always  possible  that  one  of 
the  parties  to  a  familiar  correspondence  may 
achieve  such  a  measure  of  literary  or  scien- 
tific or  some  other  kind  of  fame  as  to  lead 
to  the  publication  of  his  letters.  Is  it  not 
well,  therefore,  for  adult  acquaintances  to 
give  attention  to  the  matter,  the  language, 
and  the  mode  of  expression  followed  in  their 
letters?  If  the  late  Lafcadio  Hearn  had 
suspected  that  his  letters  (some  of  them,  at 
any  rate)  might  be  published  for  the  whole 
world  to  read  in  three  large  volumes,  I 
imagine  he  would  have  been  a  little  more 
guarded  than  he  was  at  certain  times. 


Familiar  Letters  135 

Although  I  have  written  here  of  two  men 
correspondents,  it  is  needless  to  say  that  all 
applies  equally  to  women,  as  well  as  to 
correspondence  between  a  woman  and  a 
man,  whether  young  or  old. 

2.    Correspondence  between  Men  and  Women 

Adults  are,  I  fear,  almost  as  likely  to  be 
indiscreet,  nowadays,  in  familiarity  as  are 
younger  persons.  If  the  use  of  given  names 
in  the  upper  classes  of  society  were  indica- 
tive of  Quaker  simplicity,  there  would  be 
no  objection  to  raise;  but  it  is  not  so. 
Amongst  adults,  as  a  rule,  the  bonds  of 
matrimony  will  exercise  restraint.  Yet  even 
this  is  not  absolute ;  and  there  is,  with  Eng- 
lish-speaking peoples  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic,  altogether  too  little  reserve  in  this 
respect,  and  the  undue  familiarity  finds  its 
way  into  notes  and  letters. 

In  this  mixed  correspondence  a  great  deal 
of  attention  is  quite  properly  given  to  sta- 
tionery; and  as  regards  this,  as  in  all  social 
affairs,  good  taste  will  prevent  the  use  of 
that  which  is  so  conspicuous  as  to  make  it 
verge  upon  the  vulgar.  There  is  no  fixed 
rule  for  placing  the  address  and  date  line: 
and  yet  since,  when  these  are  engraved, 


136      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

embossed,  or  printed,  they  appear  near  the 
top  of  the  first  or  the  fourth  page,  and  are 
then  always  considered  to  begin  the  com- 
munication, it  cannot  be  said  that  the  con- 
sensus of  opinion  is  not  in  favor  of  that 
place.  Yet  some  who  profess  to  be  authori- 
ties say  that  a  written  communication  which 
has  7727  Arch  Street,  Philadelphia,  June  8, 
1913,  in  the  upper,  right-hand  part  of  the 
beginning  page,  be  it  first  or  fourth,  must 
be  classed  as  a  business  letter;  while  that 
which  commences  at  once  with  My  dear  Mr. 
Jackson,  about  one  third  the  length  of  the 
page  from  the  top  and  at  the  left-hand  side, 
with  the  address  and  date  after  the  signa- 
ture, is  entitled  to  be  called  a  familiar,  so- 
cial letter  or  note.  Since  there  is  no  agree- 
ment, I  assume  that  each  person  is  at  lib- 
erty to  decide  for  herself  or  himself. 

The  correspondence  here  considered  is 
presumed  to  be  between  those  who  are  gen- 
erally spoken  of  as  ladies  and  gentlemen; 
in  other  words,  they  are  supposed  to  have 
both  culture  and  education.  They  will  not, 
therefore,  deface  their  written  communica- 
tions with  undue  familiarity.  Yet  some  of 
those  who  would  hotly  resent  not  being 
called  "  ladies  and  gentlemen,"  even  if  they 


Familiar  Letters  137 

are  not  admitted  into  the  charmed  circle  of 
the  exclusive  set,  have  frequent  occasion  to 
write  to  one  another;  and  with  some  of 
these,  too,  there  is  a  disposition  to  be  un- 
duly familiar,  both  in  the  use  of  given  names 
and  in  the  contents  of  the  note  or  letter. 
This  should  be  carefully  watched;  and  as 
to  anything  which  the  French  people  call 
risque  (the  English  word  "  risky  "  is  at  least 
suggestive  of  the  meaning!)  it  should  be 
rigidly  avoided. 

Young  women  are  taking  altogether  too 
much  liberty  in  their  correspondence  with 
young  men,  and  I  am  one  of  the  old- 
fashioned  people  who  think  that  a  young 
girl  should  not  allow  herself  to  be  led  into 
such  correspondence,  and  that  all  notes  and 
letters  from  young  men  ought  to  be  read 
by  her  mother,  as  well  as  the  replies  when 
such  are  permitted.  Not  until  the  giiTs 
engagement  has  been  announced  should  this 
rule  be  relaxed,  and  then  only  in  favor  of 
the  young  man  to  whom  she  is  betrothed. 

3.    Correspondence  between  College  Chums 
and  Intimates 

There  are  many  men  —  and  women  — 
who  treasure  among  their  most  precious 


138      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

belongings  some  letters  written  by  their 
classmates,  with  whom  they  held  that  inti- 
mate fellowship  during  the  years  of  their 
academy,  college,  or  university  life  which 
can  come  only  from  such  association.  We 
may  go  back  many  centuries  in  this  account 
of  men's  letters,  simply  because  the  same 
educational  advantages  have  not  been  fur- 
nished for  women  until  quite  recently;  but 
now  that  women  are  almost  —  in  certain 
places  wholly  —  on  equal  terms  with  men 
in  this  matter  of  academic,  or  higher,  edu- 
cation, we  have  also  these  chummy  letters 
written  by  the  feminine  hand. 

What  is  it  that  has  given  this  special  at- 
traction to  such  letters?  The  answer  comes 
quickly:  it  is  because  they  reveal,  sometimes 
almost  expose  nakedly,  the  character  of  the 
writer.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  this 
revelation  is  always  attractive.  It  has  been 
my  misfortune  to  be  compelled  to  read  vol- 
umes of  the  letters  of  X.,  or  Y.,  or  Z.,  that 
were  not  only  most  disagreeably  character- 
istic, but  were  entirely  the  composition  of 
some  shallow-minded,  pretentious,  often  of- 
fensively precocious  youngster,  who  had  been 
flattered  by  mistaken  relatives  and  friends 
until  he  was  convinced  that  his  letters  were 


Familiar  Letters  139 

destined  to  live  in  English  literature  as  do 
those  of  truly  eminent  persons  who  wrote 
without  thought  of  fame.  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  such  volumes  of  letters  as  those  I 
condemn  were  "  printed  for  private  circula- 
tion only";  they  were  never  submitted  for 
review  in  a  reputable  and  representative 
journal. 

This  experience,  and  almost  every  literary 
man  can  duplicate  it,  gives  us  a  hint  as  to 
what  should  be  the  foundation-stone  of  this 
correspondence.  Let  it  be  natural  in  con- 
ception and  simple  in  expression;  but  do 
not  assume  that  simplicity  means  the  exclu- 
sion of  ease  and  graceful  periods.  Yet  do 
not  strive  for  too  much  literary  elegance; 
the  moment  this  is  attempted  the  strain  be- 
comes apparent,  and  the  correspondent  to 
whom  such  letters  are  written  will  have  great 
difficulty  in  curbing  his  indignation.  No 
stranger  cares  to  be  put,  metaphorically, 
into  the  seats  of  the  gallery-gods,  to  whom 
a  ranting,  melodramatic  actor  is  addressing 
himself. 

What  follows  now  is  addressed  to  young 
men  especially,  for  reasons  which  must  be 
obvious.  Above  all  things,  let  these  letters 
be  pure  and  clean.  I  think  it  would  be  well 


140     The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

for  every  student  —  and  every  young  man 
—  to  look  over  his  letters  to  chums  care- 
fully, and  if  there  is  a  word  or  phrase 
therein  which  he  would  not  be  glad  to  have 
his  mother  or  sister  read,  let  him  destroy 
the  letter  mercilessly. 

Even  such  familiar  letters  as  are  included 
in  the  consideration  of  this  section  should 
be  constructed  carefully,  if  for  no  other 
reason  than  the  practise  this  gives,  and  be- 
cause every  lapse  into  carelessness  is  dan- 
gerous. If  the  students  are  taking  the  same 
course  in  English  it  is  an  excellent  thing  for 
each  of  the  parties  to  the  correspondence 
to  criticize  kindly  the  style  and  composition 
of  the  other.  Care  should  be  taken  not  to 
be  captious  or  censorious:  it  is  very  easy  to 
hurt  the  feelings  of  another  in  these  ways. 

Avoid  using  too  many  words ;  that  is,  do 
not  stretch  out  a  description  with  needless 
words;  yet  in  this  type  of  correspondence 
it  is  improper  to  go  to  the  other  extreme 
and  to  give  the  letter  a  commercial  appear- 
ance by  extreme  conciseness  and  business 
brevity.  An  unpardonable  fault  in  this  type 
of  correspondence  is  perfunctoriness,  or  the 
confession  (by  matter  or  expression)  that 
there  is  nothing  interesting  to  say,  but  the 


Familiar  Letters  141 

writer  feels  obliged  to  fill  a  certain  number 
of  pages. 

At  a  Yale  commencement  the  secretary 
of  the  graduating  class  read  the  letters  from 
absent  members,  or  those  who  had  not  fin- 
ished the  course  but  had  left  the  university 
in  good  standing.  One  of  those  letters  be- 
trayed this  perfunctoriness  by  a  clause  some- 
thing like  this:  "  Please  give  my  kind  re- 
gards to  all  the  fellows;  and  if  any  one  of 
you  is  ever  in  New  York  City,  I  shall  be 
glad  to  have  him  call  on  me!  "  This  was 
received  with  shouts  of  derisive  laughter, 
and  it  deserved  to  be. 

Good  taste  in  the  selection  of  stationery 
—  that  which  is  appropriate  for  girls  may 
not  be  for  men,  —  in  the  mechanical  ar- 
rangement of  the  parts  of  the  letter,  in  the 
use  of  friendly  or  familiar  names,  in  curbing 
the  "ego,"  and  in  considering  the  tastes  of 
the  correspondent,  contributes  immensely  to 
the  gratification  which  these  chummy  and 
intimate  letters  may  give. 

4.    Correspondence  between  School  Boys 
and  Girls 

It  is  a  shameful  thing,  but  it  is  neverthe- 
less true,  that  in  many  parts  of  this  country 


142      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

school  boys  and  girls  think  it  "  smart "  to 
use  such  extreme  slang  as  to  be  positively 
vulgar,  and  sometimes  actually  indecent, 
when  writing  to  their  friends.  I  am  sorry 
to  say  that  this  state  of  affairs  is  not  con- 
fined to  the  backwoods  or  remote  districts; 
but  it  is  to  be  noted  within  a  few  miles  of 
our  educational  centers,  even  in  the  largest 
cities,  and  in  school  districts  where  the  public 
school  education  is  the  very  best.  It  is 
due  partly  to  carelessness,  but  principally  to 
cowardice  on  the  part  of  boys  and  girls  who 
know  better,  but  are  afraid  their  companions 
will  call  them  "  prigs  "  if  they  speak  and 
write  correctly. 

There  is  no  objection  to  a  little  slang; 
sometimes  it  gives  a  touch  of  color  to  a 
sentence;  but  it  is  wise  always  to  try  to 
stop  it,  because  when  a  statement  is  made 
in  correct,  idiomatic  English,  it  cannot  be 
made  more  emphatic  or  picturesque  by  dis- 
torting it  into  something  that  is  as  unfamiliar 
to  many  cultured  people  as  would  be  a 
Chinese  aphorism. 

The  important  warning  to  be  given  school 
boys  and  girls,  when  writing  letters  to  their 
friends  and  intimate  companions,  is  to  be 
correct  in  grammar  and  rhetoric,  the  use  of 


Familiar  Letters  143 

capitals,  punctuation,  and  division  into  para- 
graphs. Another  caution  to  be  given  is  not 
to  use  extravagant  language,  which  is  not 
the  same  as  slang.  There  is  danger  of  mak- 
ing a  sentence  sound  quite  ridiculous  to  the 
reader  because  the  writer  permitted  her- 
self or  himself  to  be  carried  away  by  mo- 
mentary enthusiasm,  and  did  not  stop  to 
think  how  it  would  seem  to  her  "  dearest 
Mary "  to  be  told  that  so  and  so,  at  the 
party,  wore  "  the  most  gorgeous  gown  that 
you  ever  saw  in  your  whole  life!  "  or  to  his 
"  dear  Tom  "  to  be  assured  that  somebody 
else's  "  new  bicycle  is  the  finest  that  ever 
was  turned  out  of  any  shop  on  earth!  " 

When  the  school  boy  or  girl  has  learned 
how  to  control  the  pen  so  that  the  particu- 
lar fault  which  has  just  been  mentioned  will 
be  avoided,  the  next  thing  is  to  be  natural. 
Write,  as  far  as  possible,  as  if  you  were 
talking  to  your  friend,  but  always  try  to 
remember  whether  or  not  that  friend  is  as 
entirely  familiar  with  your  own  surround- 
ings as  you  are;  if  not,  do  not  write  about 
people  with  whom  your  correspondent  is  not 
acquainted  or  of  places  entirely  unfamiliar 
to  your  friend,  unless  you  give  some  descrip- 
tion. The  same  caution  may  be  given  when 


144     The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

school  work  and  daily  occupations  are  dis- 
cussed. When  all  these  details  have  been 
carefully  considered,  some  of  the  best  letters 
I  have  read  came  from  the  pens  of  school 
boys  and  girls.  There  is  no  better  way  to 
improve  one's  English  composition  and  to 
enlarge  one's  vocabulary  than  to  engage  in 
correspondence  with  some  congenial  friend 
of  about  one's  own  age;  only,  if  improve- 
ment in  these  ways  is  to  be  the  principal 
object,  the  letters  must  be  such  as  to  per- 
mit the  receiver  to  show  them  to  parent  or 
teacher,  in  order  to  secure  needed  assistance 
in  correcting  faults;  then  such  corrections 
must  be  passed  on  to  the  writer. 


PART  V 
THE  USE  OF  WORDS 


CHAPTER    I 

THE  RIGHT  WORD  IN  THE  RIGHT  PLACE 

i.    The  Right  Word  varies  greatly  with 
Circumstances 

TTTE  must  consider  here  one  sentence  as 
the  basis  of  this  whole  part.  If  the 
sentence  is  properly  constructed,  the  whole 
composition  of  the  letter  will  probably  be 
satisfactory,  because  the  letter  is  only  a 
cumulation,  or  putting  together,  of  sentences. 
In  these  there  is  not  much  choice  left  to 
the  careful  writer,  so  far  as  the  position  of 
the  particular  word  is  concerned. 

There  are  many  books  of  synonyms  — 
a  word  having  the  same  or  similar  signifi- 
cance, or  meaning,  as  another  —  and  at 
first  glance  it  sometimes  seems  as  if  it  were 
entirely  a  matter  of  personal  preference 
which  one  of  two,  or  even  three  or  more, 
synonyms  we  shall  use.  Yet  it  will  almost 
always  be  found  that  one  of  the  synonyms, 
and  only  one,  conveys  our  meaning  better 
than  any  of  the  others. 


148      The  Letter  Writers  Handbook 

Perhaps  one  of  the  most  difficult  words 
to  place  properly  is  "  only."  If  my  readers 
will  take  the  trouble  to  read  carefully  almost 
any  book  which  comes  to  hand  —  noting  this 
little  word  particularly  —  they  will  find  that 
very  few  writers  always  put  this  word  in 
the  proper  place.  It  is  almost  always  made 
to  modify  the  principal  verb  of  the  clause; 
whereas,  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  hun- 
dred, it  actually  modifies  the  dependent  verb 
or  clause,  and  that  only. 

For  example,  there  are  very  few  people 
who  do  not  say:  /  only  came  to  ask  how 
you  feel  today.  But  that  is  not  what  they 
intended  to  say,  because  "  only  "  is  in  the 
wrong  place.  The  sentence  should  be :  / 
came  only  to  ask  how  you  feel  today.  Look 
through  books  written  by  men,  and  women 
too,  who  are  considered  to  be  masters  of 
English;  and  you  will  be  astonished  to  find 
how  careless  they  are  about  this  matter.  I 
give  one  concrete  example  that  has  just 
come  to  my  notice.  In  an  interesting  and 
instructive  little  book  about  "  The  Vikings," 
by  Allen  Mawer,  Professor  of  English  Lan- 
guage and  Literature  in  Armstrong  College, 
University  of  Durham,  England,  is  this  sen- 
tence: "Later,  as  the  result  of  peaceful 


The  Right  Word  in  the  Right  Place     149 

negotiations,  they  obtained  permission  to 
pass  the  bridges  on  condition  that  they  only 
ravaged  Burgundy,  leaving  the  Seine  and 
Marne  districts  untouched;  thus  had  the 
provinces  of  the  Prankish  empire  lost  all 
sense  of  corporate  union. "  The  misplacing 
of  u  only  "  completely  changes  the  meaning 
of  the  sentence.  Evidently  the  author  in- 
tended to  convey  the  idea  that  it  was  Bur- 
gundy alone  the  Vikings  were  to  ravage; 
but  as  the  words  stand,  a  strict  interpreta- 
tion means  that  they  were  to  ravage  only, 
they  were  not  to  do  something  else  in  or 
to  Burgundy.  For  example,  they  were  not 
to  settle  there  permanently.  The  words 
"  only  "  and  "  Burgundy  "  should  be  trans- 
posed, and  the  sentence  read,  "  that  they 
ravaged  Burgundy  only,  leaving  the  Seine 
and  Marne  districts  untouched." 

Prepositions,  too,  are  generally  trouble- 
some. You  will  find,  if  you  look  carefully, 
that  many  persons  who  really  know  better 
use  the  phrase  "  under  the  circumstances." 
What  does  "  circumstances  "  mean?  The 
dictionary  tells  us,  "  one's  state  in  life;  state 
of  affairs."  But  it  means  a  little  more  than 
that;  it  means  u  that  which  surrounds." 
How,  then,  can  one  be  "  under  "  that  which 


150     The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

surrounds?     The  phrase   should  be  in   the 
circumstances. 

Another  very  common  misuse  of  prepo- 
sitions is  illustrated  by  the  sentence :  Please 
take  it  in  the  other  room)  when  Please  take 
it  into  the  other  room  is  intended.  I  need 
only  call  attention  to  the  utterly  indefensible 
sentence:  Open  the  door,  the  cat  wants 
in,  to  have  my  readers  understand  that 
what  is  intended  to  be  expressed  is,  The  cat 
wishes  to  come  in. 

2.   The  Right  Word  is  not  always  Easy 
to  pick 

The  poet,  Alfred  Tennyson,  was  once 
complimented  by  an  ardent  admirer  who  had 
just  read  "  In  Memoriam."  This  friend 
and  admirer  referred  to  one  particular  pas- 
sage, and  declared  vehemently  that  it  bore 
the  unmistakable  mark  of  genius.  He  con- 
cluded by  saying:  "  No  one  but  a  born  poet 
could  have  written  that  line;  and  to  such 
an  one  even  it  would  come  as  an  inspiration 
—  in  a  flash !  "  Tennyson  replied  very 
calmly:  "Well,  I  don't  know  about  the 
genius  and  the  flash  of  inspiration;  but  I 
can  assure  you  I  worked  for  three  days 


The  Right  Word  in  the  Right  Place     151 

over  that  line,  and  smoked  at  least  twenty 
cigars  before  I  got  just  the  right  words  in 
the  order  that  suited  me!  " 

Dictionaries,  books  of  synonyms,  and  of 
synonyms  differentiated,  are  most  helpful; 
but,  after  all,  it  is  careful  thought  with 
practise  which  enables  us  to  pick  the  right 
word.  Let  us  think  for  a  few  minutes  of  the 
two  words  "  want  "  and  "  wish."  They  are 
not  true  synonyms  at  all.  The  former 
should  be  used  strictly  to  mean  that  which 
we  desire,  and  at  the  same  time  something 
which  is  also  necessary  or  essential.  For 
example,  we  want  food,  we  want  fresh  air, 
and  many  other  things;  even  if  a  poet  has 
said:  "  Man  wants  but  little  here  below,  nor 
wants  that  little  long."  It  is  not  correct  to 
say:  "I  want  you  to  go  to  the  post-office 
for  me,"  or  "  I  want  to  hear  Caruso  sing." 
Wish  may  properly  be  restricted  to  a  desire, 
therefore  it  is  right  to  say  "  I  wish  to  go 
fishing  tomorrow."  But  wish,  in  such  a  sen- 
tence, implies  some  uncertainty;  so  that  it 
is  not  entirely  satisfactory  until  the  condi- 
tion is  expressed,  something  like,  if  the 
weather  permits,  if  I  can  get  permission,  or 
something  of  the  sort.  It  is  much  better 
to  make  the  sentence  a  true  English  one  and 


152      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

say:  Unless  something  stops  me,  I  am  going 
fishing  tomorrow. 

There  is  another  class  of  words  which 
may  properly  be  mentioned  here.  They  are 
called  homonyms,  and  the  definition  given 
in  the  dictionary  is  u  a  word  which  agrees 
in  sound  with  another,  but  has  a  different 
meaning/'  These  English  homonyms  are 
especially  troublesome  for  Americans  or 
Britons  who  have  not  received  much  educa- 
tion; and  they  are  particularly  so  for  for- 
eigners. For  example,  bow,  the  forward 
part  of  a  ship  or  boat;  bow,  a  salutation; 
bough,  a  small  branch  of  a  bush  or  tree; 
and  then  there  is  bow,  a  weapon.  When  the 
sound  b-o-w  is  heard,  those  who  are  entirely 
familiar  with  the  English  language  readily 
determine  which  bow  is  meant  by  listening 
to  the  other  words  that  are  used  with  bow 
or  bough.  These  associated  words  are 
called  u  the  context. "  In  writing,  it  is  not 
often  that  the  person  will  be  confused,  be- 
cause he  knows  his  own  context.  But  the 
choice  of  the  right  word  becomes  easy  with 
practise.  As  a  general  rule,  it  is  much  bet- 
ter to  choose  the  word  that  is  truly  English; 
that  is,  one  which  has  come  down  to  us 
from  the  Saxon  rather  than  from  the  Latin 


The  Right  Word  in  the  Right  Place     153 

or  Greek,  either  direct  or  through  Italian 
or  French.  Furthermore,  it  is  well  to  take 
the  shorter  of  two  words  which  are  really 
synonyms. 

3.    The  Right  Word  is  like  a  Keystone 

I  have  purposely  used  here  what  is  called 
"  a  figure  of  speech  "  or  "  a  figurative  ex- 
pression." That  is  to  say,  I  have  united  in 
one  sentence  and  compared  things,  word  and 
keystone,  which  are  entirely  unlike,  and 
naturally  could  not  be  associated,  in  order 
that  I  may  illustrate  my  meaning  in  a  some- 
what striking  way.  The  keystone,  it  will 
be  remembered,  is  the  central  stone  of  an 
arch.  It  has  a  shape  peculiar  to  itself,  and 
it  is  set  in  place  last  of  all.  It  is  cut  into 
such  a  shape  that  it  presses  downward  and 
sidewise  against  the  stones  on  either  side, 
and  thus  gives  to  the  arch  that  strength 
which  is  declared  to  be  the  greatest  in  any 
architectural  or  masonry  form. 

When  once  the  keystone  is  properly  made 
and  correctly  placed,  the  supporting  frame- 
work of  the  arch  may  be  removed;  for,  un- 
less the  weight  placed  upon  the  arch  is  suffi- 
cient actually  to  crush  the  stones,  the  more 
pressure  there  is  the  stronger  does  the  arch 


154      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

become.  It  will  now  appear  why  the  right 
word  in  a  sentence  is  like  a  keystone:  it 
binds  together  all  the  others  and  completes 
the  strength  of  the  structure. 

Moreover,  the  simile  of  the  keystone  and 
the  right  word  is  reasonable  because  many 
competent  English  writers  agree  with  Lord 
Kaines  (quoted  by  Herbert  Spencer),  who, 
in  his  "  Elements  of  Criticism,"  says  that  in 
order  to  give  the  utmost  force  to  a  period, 
a  complete  sentence  rhetorically,  it  ought, 
if  possible,  to  be  closed  with  that  word 
which  makes  the  greatest  figure;  that  is,  the 
one  word  of  greatest  importance.  The  key- 
stone is  the  last  piece  to  be  placed  in  posi- 
tion, and  it  closes  and  completes  the  arch. 
It  is,  however,  seldom  practicable  to  close 
the  period,  that  is,  the  complete  sentence 
from  one  full  stop  to  another,  with  the 
strongest  word  of  all.  Nevertheless,  the 
right  word  is  the  keystone  of  the  sentence, 
and  for  that  reason  it  is  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance that  the  right  one  should  be  taken. 

By  way  of  very  simple  illustration,  let  us 
consider  the  two  words  shall  and  will.  They 
seem  to  be  almost  insignificant,  and  yet  upon 
the  choice  of  the  right  one  depends  the 
strength  of  the  whole  sentence.  I  am  sorry 


The  Right  Word  in  the  Right  Place     155 

to  say  that  in  nearly  one  half  of  the  busi- 
ness letters  I  have  read  during  the  past 
three  years  the  wrong  word  was  chosen; 
consequently  the  strength  of  the  written  arch 
was  impaired  or  destroyed. 

The  force  and  meaning  of  these  two 
words  vary  according  to  the  grammatical 
person  of  the  nominative  of  the  sentence. 
When  shall  is  connected  with  a  subject  in 
the  first  person  singular  or  plural,  /  or  we, 
it  expresses  simply  intention.  /  shall  go  to 
New  York  tomorrow  is  just  the  same  as  the 
equally  unemphatic  declaration,  /  am  going 
to  New  York  tomorrow.  But  will  with  the 
first  person  nominative,  either  singular  or 
plural,  is  emphatic  or  forceful,  and  often 
it  indicates  determination  in  the  face  of 
strong  opposition.  We  will  go  to  New 
York  tomorrow  is  equal  to  something  like 
"  there  is  strong  opposition  to  our  doing  so, 
yet  in  spite  of  that  we  are  going." 

Will  and  shall  with  the  second  or  third 
person  usually  have  precisely  the  opposite 
sense  from  that  which  they  have  when  em- 
ployed with  the  first  person.  Will  merely 
asserts  intention;  shall  is  practically  the 
same  as  a  command.  There  is  an  exception 
in  civil  or  military  intercourse,  where  the 


156      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

mandatory  shall  is  modulated  by  the  form, 
You  will  proceed  to  New  Orleans  and  re- 
port to  the  senior  officer  in  command.  At 
other  times  You  shall  go,  or  He  shall  go, 
implies  that  the  speaker  or  writer  has  the 
right  to  give  the  command  and  the  moral 
or  physical  power  to  enforce  obedience. 

Do  not  these  simple  examples  show  the 
importance  of  taking  the  correct  word  for 
the  keystone  of  the  sentence? 

4.    The  Right  Keyword  and  then  the  Others 

As  a  letter  is  only  a  combination  of  sen- 
tences, it  will  be  sufficient  if  we  consider 
here  one  sentence  and  its  general  composi- 
tion. The  verb  is  considered,  by  those  who 
have  given  special  attention  to  grammar 
and  rhetoric,  the  word  which  gives  life,  mo- 
tion, action  to  the  whole  sentence.  It  is, 
therefore,  of  the  greatest  importance  that 
this  word  should  be  chosen  with  care,  so  as 
to  convey  the  meaning  exactly,  and  then 
properly  expressed  as  to  time,  or  tense. 

We  who  use  the  English  language  are 
very  much  opposed  to  speaking  or  writing 
our  verbs  in  their  simple  form.  If  a  page 
of  a  book  is  carefully  examined,  it  will  be 
found  that  nearly  all  the  verb  phrases  are 


The  Right  Word  in  the  Right  Place     157 

compounded  of  a  principal  verb,  its  present 
or  past  participle,  and  an  auxiliary.  I  as- 
sume that  all  know  what  this  statement 
means;  but  I  illustrate  by  asking  how  often 
we  simply  go  or  come  or  ride  or  walk,  or 
almost  anything  else?  Do  we  not  habitually 
say  or  write  /  am  going  to  Chicago  next 
week?  The  past  tense  is  about  the  only 
one  in  which  the  simple  form  of  the  verb 
is  frequently  used. 

Since  the  auxiliary  is  such  an  important 
part  of  the  verb  clause,  it  is  necessary  to 
give  attention  to  getting  the  right  form  of 
it.  Such  expressions  as  has  came,  or  would 
have  went,  or  have  saw,  must  be  strictly 
avoided.  There  is  always  the  danger  that 
careless  or  uneducated  writers  will  make  mis- 
takes in  using  some  part  of  to  have;  but 
there  is  greater  tendency  to  error  when  cer- 
tain parts  of  to  be  are  used  in  compound 
verb  phrases.  The  past  tenses  of  shall  and 
will  are  governed  by  the  same  rules  as  those 
which  apply  to  these  words  when  employed 
to  indicate  future  action.  Should  is  used 
with  the  first  person,  /  or  we;  would  with 
the  second  and  third  persons,  you,  he,  she, 
it,  they.  It  is,  therefore,  not  correct  to  say, 
We  would  be  glad  to  supply  you  with  lum- 


158      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

ber  at  current  prices.  It  ought  to  be  We 
shall,  etc. 

The  subjunctive  is  said  to  be  falling  into 
disuse,  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  this  is 
true.  This  mood  indicates  that  which  is 
future  and  uncertain,  so  that  sometimes  the 
expression  would  I  had  known,  or  others  like 
it,  seems  to  be  proper;  yet  this  uncertainty 
may  be  better  expressed  by  /'/  /  had  known. 
There  are  some  writers  who  contend  that 
Would  you  be  so  kind  as  to  lend  me  your 
knife,  or  Will  you  do  me  the  favor  to  read 
this  note,  is  more  polite  than  the  simple, 
direct  form,  Please,  etc.  This  is  not  true. 
To  the  first  of  those  sentences  the  proper 
answer  is :  Yes,  I  would  if  I  were  asked,  and 
to  the  second:  Yes,  I  will  when  I  am  asked. 

I  hesitate  to  utter  a  word  of  caution  here 
as  to  grammatical  agreement  between  nomi- 
native and  verb,  as  well  as  about  the  ob- 
jective clause;  yet  it  is  to  be  regretted  that 
in  correspondence  of  almost  every  kind  im- 
provement in  these  matters  is  much  to  be 
desired.  Such  expressions  as  Him  and  I 
was  there,  and  He  gave  him  and  I  some 
apples  are  more  frequently  heard  than  seen, 
but  they  are  too  common  in  correspondence. 

The  advice  to  use  short  sentences  is  well 


The  Right  Word  in  the  Right  Place     159 

given;  yet  there  is  sometimes  danger  of 
making  the  expression  over-curt  when  the 
admonition  "  brevity  is  the  soul  of  wit  "  is 
too  literally  followed.  Occasionally  the  sen- 
tence must  be  a  long  one;  still,  when  it  is 
possible  to  do  so,  let  such  sentences  be 
avoided. 

Again,  it  is  frequently  recommended  to 
use  short  words  rather  than  long  ones;  but 
very  often  the  longer  of  two  synonyms  is 
more  effective  in  every  way.  It  is  magnifi- 
cent seems  to  be  more  forcible  than  //  is 
grand,  if  that  which  we  are  describing  justi- 
fies: other  examples  will  probably  occur  to 
all.  In  business  correspondence  it  may 
safely  be  taken  as  a  rule,  that  of  two  words 
which  convey  the  writer's  meaning  with 
equal,  or  nearly  equal  force,  the  shorter  is 
to  be  preferred. 

In  correspondence  we  may  say  that  we 
exactly  reverse  the  process  followed  by  the 
mason  in  building  an  arch.  He  places  the 
keystone  in  its  proper  position  the  last  of 
all ;  we  —  that  is,  the  letter  writers  — 
should  first  choose  our  keyword  carefully 
and  then  build  our  sentence  around  it,  tak- 
ing great  pains  to  have  all  the  other  words 
conform  to  it. 


CHAPTER    II 

THE  ELASTIC  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE 

i.    The  Word  adapted  to  a  Special  Use 

TT  can  hardly  be  necessary  to  draw  atten- 
tion to  the  wonderful  development  of  the 
English  language  that  has  taken  place  within 
the  last  half-century,  and  which,  so  far  as 
we  Americans  are  specially  to  be  considered, 
has  been  phenomenal  during  the  last  fifteen 
years.  If  a  comparison  is  made  between 
the  first  dictionary  of  the  English  language, 
that  prepared  by  Cockeram,  in  London,  Eng- 
land, in  1623,  a  modest  octavo,  or  the  first 
edition  of  our  Noah  Webster,  New  York, 
1828,  two  volumes  in  quarto  size,  and  UA 
New  English  Dictionary  on  Historical  Prin- 
ciples founded  mainly  on  the  material  col- 
lected by  The  Philological  Society,  edited 
by  James  A.  H.  Murray,"  in  royal  octavo, 
or  "  The  Century  Dictionary  and  Cyclope- 
dia," or  the  latest  edition  of  Webster  or 
Worcester,  or  any  of  our  unabridged  die- 


The  Elastic  English  Language     161 

tionaries,  the  truth  as  to  this  expansion  will 
be  very  clear. 

The  first  volume  of  the  Philological  So- 
ciety's work  was  issued  in  1888;  it  is  a 
thick  volume  of  royal  octavo  size:  in  1910 
the  eighth  volume  was  issued:  this  includes 
words  beginning  with  Sch.  Already  suffi- 
cient new  material  from  A  to  Sch  has  been 
accumulated  to  make  an  extra  volume  or 
two.  Of  course  all  the  words  in  that  enor- 
mous dictionary  are  not  pure  or  even  de- 
rived English;  but  they  may  all  be  used 
by  writers  of  English,  and  they  indicate 
that  "  the  elastic  English  language "  is 
no  mere  figure  of  speech.  The  growth  of 
our  vocabulary  is  one  of  the  surest  signs 
of  the  life  and  strength  of  the  English 
language. 

In  the  great  dictionaries  that  have  been 
mentioned  there  are  words  taken  from  al- 
most every  known  tongue  on  the  globe. 
These  have  been  found  to  express  an  idea 
so  precisely  and  so  concisely  that  they  have 
come  to  be  incorporated  into  English;  be- 
cause to  give  exactly  the  same  sense  with 
English  words  would  require  the  use  of  a 
phrase,  at  least,  and  very  often  of  a  long 
sentence.  It  is  in  this  and  other  similar 


1 62      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

ways  that  borrowed  words,  as  well  as  so 
many  original  ones,  have  come  to  be  adapted 
to  a  special  use. 

In  certain  cases  this  specializing  is  prop- 
erly described  as  "  technical."  The  par- 
ticular word  is  used  by  particular  persons 
in  a  way  that  is  scarcely  intelligible  to  those 
who  are  not  familiar  with  the  craft,  indus- 
try, or  occupation  by  whose  members  the 
word  has  been  appropriated.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  give  examples  of  these  tech- 
nical words  and  phrases:  it  is  sufficient  to 
warn  letter  writers  against  employing  such 
specialized  words  in  correspondence  with 
those  who  are  not  familiar  with  the  tech- 
nicalities of  their  particular  branch  of 
business. 

The  use  of  words  that  are  adapted  to  a 
special  purpose  will  often  accomplish  an 
economy  of  mental  effort  on  the  part  of 
the  receiver  of  a  letter,  and  that  is  prob- 
ably the  principal  reason  for  their  existence; 
but  their  use  merely  to  display  one's  own 
technical  knowledge  is  an  affectation  which 
should  be  carefully  avoided.  Within  the 
often  narrow  circle  of  those  who  are 
familiar  with  these  technicalities,  this  special- 
izing —  when  skilfully  employed  —  results 


The  Elastic  English  Language     163 

in  the  most  admirable  form  of  conciseness 
and  clearness. 

In  general  or  social  correspondence,  as 
well  as  in  matter  which  is  intended  for 
publication,  it  is  advisable  to  avoid  these 
technical  or  specialized  words,  because  the 
ordinary  reader  does  not  like  to  be  com- 
pelled to  turn  to  his  dictionary  too  fre- 
quently. One  of  the  most  effective  and  just 
criticisms  that  have  been  made  upon  the 
stories  and  poems  of  Rudyard  Kipling  is 
that  the  frequent  use  of  words  and  phrases 
which  are  doubtless  entirely  familiar  to  the 
English  people  in  India  makes  it  difficult  for 
readers  in  other  parts  of  the  world  to  un- 
derstand some  of  his  most  effective  points 
without  a  glossary,  —  that  is,  a  sort  of  dic- 
tionary which  explains  in  simple  language 
the  meaning  and  use  of  words  or  phrases 
that  are  not  familiar  to  the  ordinary  reader. 
The  specializing  as  to  the  meaning  or  use 
of  words  should  always  be  made  subordi- 
nate to  entire  clearness. 

2.    The  Word  of  Today  is  sometimes  not 
that  of  our  Grandfathers 

This  statement  is  true  in  a  double  sense: 
sometimes  the  correspondence  of  a  hundred 


164     The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

years  ago  would  be  difficult  of  comprehen- 
sion by  many  people  of,  at  least,  average 
education  now;  and  certainly  much  of  our 
specialized  correspondence  today,  as  well  as 
a  great  deal  of  what  appears  in  newspapers, 
magazines,  and  books  nowadays,  would  be 
altogether  unintelligible  to  our  grandfathers. 

This  fact  furnishes  one  of  the  strongest 
evidences  of  the  growth  of  the  English  lan- 
guage. It  is  especially  true  in  the  field  of 
business  correspondence.  A  hundred  years 
ago  the  young  merchant  who  intended  to 
make  an  effort  to  extend  the  range  of  his 
business  beyond  the  narrow  circle  of  his  own 
country  would  have  been  compelled  to  use 
some  other  language  than  English. 

Probably  French  was  spoken  more  gen- 
erally by  statesmen,  diplomats,  commercial 
men,  and  travelers  than  any  other  language 
of  Europe.  It  is  still  extremely  popular  in 
court  and  diplomatic  circles,  but  it  is  rapidly 
being  replaced  by  English  in  the  great  fields 
of  commerce  and  industry.  It  is  no  longer 
an  almost  absolute  necessity  for  the  traveler 
who  contemplates  going  off  the  "  beaten 
track "  to  have  some  command  of  French 
in  order  to  get  along  comfortably,  and  to 
be  able  to  dispense  with  the  services  of 


The  Elastic  English  Language     165 

guides  and  interpreters  when  engaging  in 
conversation  with  government  officials,  mer- 
chants, and  tradesmen. 

Speaking  from  a  fairly  extended  personal 
experience,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that 
English  is  now  the  world's  language,  and  a 
knowledge  of  it  is  sufficient  to  carry  the 
commercial  traveler  or  tourist  round  the 
globe.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  every- 
where the  wanderer  will  find  somebody  to 
speak  English  with  him,  for  there  are  plenty 
of  places  —  even  along  the  well-trodden 
"  beaten  paths  "  —  where  English  is  en- 
tirely useless;  but  when  French  or  German 
is  not  the  language  of  the  inhabitants,  Eng- 
lish will  be  found  as  useful,  nine  times  out 
of  ten,  as  is  either  of  the  other  two  tongues. 

When  comparing  the  words  in  constant 
use  today  with  those  entirely  familiar  to 
our  grandfathers,  and  trying  to  put  aside 
all  personal  and  patriotic  prejudice,  I  feel 
sure  our  vocabulary  is  more  satisfactory: 
it  is  certainly  much  more  extended.  But 
these  very  facts  constitute  in  themselves  a 
source  of  danger  for  some  letter  writers; 
and  this  is  one  of  the  times  when  strength 
or  safety  is  not  always  or  even  probably  to 
be  found  in  numbers.  The  very  increase 


1 66     The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

in  vocabulary  —  that  is,  the  number  of 
words  at  our  service  —  and  the  variation 
from  the  strict  usage  of  our  grandfathers' 
time  make  it  all  the  more  difficult  for  the 
young,  untrained  hand  at  letter  writing  to 
select  the  one  word  that  is  proper  and  will 
precisely  express  the  exact  shade  of  mean- 
ing he  wishes  to  convey. 

The  next  section  discusses  this  trouble 
which  comes  from  an  increase  in  the  num- 
ber of  words  at  our  service  and  the  varia- 
tion in  their  use;  or  what  the  French  call 
embarras  des  richesses,  that  is,  an  embar- 
rassment of  wealth,  or  altogether  too  much 
of  a  good  thing. 

3.    The  Use  of  Synonyms 

The  principal  uses  of  synonyms  are,  first, 
to  avoid  repetition  of  the  same  word,  which 
sometimes  produces  a  disagreeable  and  tir- 
ing effect  upon  the  hearer  or  reader;  second, 
to  give  to  the  spoken  phrase  or  the  written 
sentence  a  pleasing  variation  in  what  is 
called  "  coloring. "  If  the  sky  were  always 
blue,  I  fear  we  should  tire  of  the  sameness, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  physical  disasters  that 
would  result  from  perpetually  cloudless 
heavens.  Or  if  the  whole  surface  of  the 


The  Elastic  English  Language     167 

earth  were  green,  green,  forever  green,  from 
city  suburb  to  town  and  village,  and  on 
again  to  the  next  city,  that  too  would  be 
deadly  tedious.  It  is  the  variation  in  color- 
ing that  really  makes  pictorial  art  possible; 
for  the  shading  in  a  picture  that  is  simply 
black  and  white,  or  monochrome  (a  single 
color),  suggests  the  colors  of  nature.  Vari- 
ation in  words  accomplishes  a  similarly  pleas- 
ing effect  in  composition;  hence  it  too  may 
be  called  "  coloring." 

But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  some- 
times the  actual  repetition  of  the  same  word 
lends  a  force  to  what  is  said  or  written, 
which  would  be  greatly  diminished,  if  not 
entirely  lost,  were  the  word  varied  accord- 
ing to  its  permitted  synonyms.  This  effec- 
tive repetition  is  of  two  kinds:  EPIZEUXIS, 
where  the  word  is  immediately  repeated 
without  any  intervening  word  or  clause,  as: 
The  introducers  of  the  now-established  prin- 
ciples of  political  economy  may  fairly  be 
considered  to  have  made  a  great  discovery; 
a  discovery  the  more  creditable,  etc.;  and 
EPANALEPSIS,  where  a  word  or  a  clause 
intervenes,  as:  The  persecutions  undergone 
by  the  Apostles  furnished  both  a  trial  of 
their  faith  and  a  confirmation  to  ours:  a 


1 68      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

trial  to  them,  etc.  Another  form  of  the 
latter  is  EPANADOS,  a  repetition  in  inverse 
order,  as:  O  more  exceeding  love,  or  law 
more  just?  Just  law,  indeed,  but  more  ex- 
ceeding  love!  POLYSYNDETON  also  belongs 
in  this  class.  It  consists  in  the  frequent 
repetition  of  the  conjunction,  as:  We  have 
ships  and  men  and  money  and  stores  and 
public  sentiment  to  support  us,  and  that  last 
is  the  best  of  all.  But  polysyndeton  must 
not  be  confused  with  the  senseless  reitera- 
tion of  and  when  a  child  or  a  careless 
speaker  or  writer  commits  this  fault. 

The  definition  of  synonyms  has  already 
been  given;  and  we  have  now  to  consider 
merely  how  they  may  be  used  most  effec- 
tively. I  have  no  intention  of  giving  a  long 
discussion  as  to  how  different  words  having 
the  same,  or  nearly  the  same,  meaning  may 
be  used,  but,  as  a  sort  of  continuation  of 
the  last  section,  it  is  interesting  to  note  how 
completely  some  words  have  changed  as  to 
their  significance  or  use  within  a  compara- 
tively short  time.  To  guess  has  come  to  be 
restored,  both  in  the  United  States  and  in 
Canada,  to  the  use  which  was  not  at  all 
uncommon  in  England  three  or  four  hundred 
years  ago;  that  is,  as  a  synonym  for  to 


The  Elastic  English  Language      169 

think.  Our  British  friends,  ignoring  the  his- 
torical fact,  declare  that  this  usage  is  "  an 
Americanism, "  and  even  Noah  Webster 
seems  to  have  been  inclined  to  discourage  the 
continued  use  of  the  word  in  this  way;  for 
he  states:  "  guess  .  .  .  think;  suppose  — 
with  an  objective  clause,  and  properly  imply- 
ing some  uncertainty." 

It  is  fairly  certain  that  autumn  was  the 
name  generally  used  for  the  third  season 
of  the  year — from  the  "  Autumnal  Equi- 
nox" to  the  "  Winter  Solstice";  and  that 
fall  is  another  revival  of  an  old  English 
usage.  Webster  seems  to  show  a  prefer- 
ence for  the  Norman-French  word,  for  with 
Fall,  scantily  treated,  he  remarks  "  See  Au- 
tumn." Mistress  is  another  word  that  has 
emphatically  changed  as  to  its  usage.  In  our 
grandfathers'  time  it  was  always  an  honor- 
able title,  one  even  which  conveyed  the  idea 
of  some  distinction.  Now  it  is  carefully 
avoided  by  most  people,  lest  it  may  be  as- 
sumed to  mean  paramour  or  concubine.  I 
am  glad  to  see  that  there  is  a  disposition, 
amongst  those  who  are  admitted  to  be  our 
best  guides  in  the  matter  of  correct  usage 
in  English,  to  restore  this  word  to  its  proper 
place  —  that  is,  to  denote  a  woman  having 


170     The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

some  power,  authority,  or  ownership.  If 
the  effort  is  successful,  mistress  will,  how- 
ever, be  reserved  for  unmarried  women  who 
have  reached  the  age  of  discretion.  The 
curious  Mrs.  (Missis),  which  is  really  an 
abbreviation  of  Mistress)  is  to  be  retained 
for  the  head  of  a  family,  or  any  married 
woman. 

Another  word  which  has  changed  in  mean- 
ing and  usage  within  much  less  than  a  cen- 
tury is  wench.  It  truly  means  a  "  girl  "  or 
"  maiden/'  a  "  damsel,"  and  it  ought  not  to 
convey  any  bad  meaning  at  all.  Our  grand- 
fathers, however,  used  it  for  "  a  female 
servant,"  especially  "  a  slave."  The  word 
must  now  be  discarded  altogether,  unless  a 
deliberate  insult  is  intended;  and  yet,  in 
some  of  our  Southern  States,  the  statutes 
have  not  been  changed,  and  when  a  young 
negress  is  to  be  designated,  it  is  by  the  word 
wench. 

The  very  fact  that  the  English  language 
has  been  wonderfully  expanded  by  adopting 
words  from  all  tongues  makes  it  exception- 
ally rich  in  synonyms.  The  use  of  these 
must  be  governed  by  judgment  and  good 
taste.  It  is  but  right  and  courteous  that  the 
standards  of  English  composition  and  speech 


The  Elastic  English  Language      171 

which  exist  in  England  itself  and  through- 
out the  British  Empire  should  be  recognized 
by  us  Americans  when  we  are  away  from 
home,  or  when  our  correspondence  is  going 
abroad.  Nearly  all  of  those  forms  which 
the  hypercritical  Britons  sneer  at  as  being 
"  Americanisms  "  (of  course  I  do  not  refer 
to  slang}  are  survivals  of  English  that  long 
ago  received  the  stamp  of  approval  from 
the  best  authors  and  speakers;  and  the  sneer 
of  today  is  often  an  indication  of  ignorance, 
instead  of  being  a  mark  of  superiority.  Yet 
when  abroad,  or  when  sending  letters  to  our 
British  cousins,  it  is  well  not  to  be  too  in- 
sistent upon  the  use  of  words  and  phrases 
which  are  approved  at  home  and  which  also 
may  be  shown  to  be  correct,  but  which  may 
offend  the  sensitive  ears  of  our  friends. 

4.    The  Use  of  the  Dictionary,  etc. 

It  is  well  always  to  have  such  aids  at 
hand  and  to  make  constant  use  of  them. 
This  advice  is  offered  especially  to  stenog- 
raphers, typists,  juniors  who  have  charge  of 
correspondence,  and  young  business  men 
who  may  not  have  been  so  fortunate  as  to 
receive  a  thorough  high-school  education  or 
its  equivalent.  Whenever  there  is  the  slight- 


172      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

est  doubt  as  to  spelling,  assume  that  you 
are  wrong  and  refer  to  the  dictionary;  if 
you  are  doubtful  about  grammar,  have  some 
authority  in  grammar,  syntax,  and  rhetoric 
handy;  if  you  are  uncertain  as  to  the  pro- 
priety of  using  a  certain  synonym,  turn  to 
a  dictionary  or  some  specialized  book  of 
reference.  The  confirmation  of  an  admitted 
authority  is  always  comforting;  the  correc- 
tion of  such  is  beneficial:  while  the  gain  in 
an  increased  vocabulary  is  of  inestimable 
advantage. 

Each  writer  will  have  to  decide  for  himself 
which  one  of  several  recognized  authorities 
he  will  take  as  guide.  There  is  no  Supreme 
Court  or  Hague  Tribunal  to  decide  beyond 
further  appeal  which  system  of  spelling  is 
to  be  the  absolute  standard.  No  sane  per- 
son would  be  so  rash  as  to  say  that  any 
one  writer  is  competent  to  utter  the  final 
word  as  to  phraseology,  style,  etc. 

It  appears  unwise  to  try  to  create  an 
American  written  language  which  shall  differ 
widely  from  the  parent  English  in  spelling, 
phraseology,  rhetoric,  and  other  respects. 
Yet  so  long  ago  as  1828,  when  Noah  Web- 
ster issued  the  first  edition  of  his  unabridged 
dictionary  (two  volumes,  containing  12,000 


The  Elastic  English  Language     173 

words),  he  expressed  the  hope  that  the  time 
might  come,  and  speedily,  when  in  this  coun- 
try there  should  be  just  such  an  independent 
language  or  dialect  of  English.  If  such  a 
separation  be  accomplished,  and  then  car- 
ried out  consistently  and  logically,  the  time 
must  come  eventually  when  the  great  treas- 
ury of  English  literature  will  be  a  closed 
cell  to  American  youth,  who  will  then  have 
to  study  English  —  English  as  they  must 
now  learn  German  and  the  Scandinavian 
languages  —  if  they  wish  to  study  the  be- 
ginnings of  our  noble  English  literature.  I 
cannot  refrain  from  mentioning  here  that 
the  great  lexicographer  Noah  Webster,  the 
dictionary-maker,  himself  commits  the  blun- 
der of  using  the  phrase  under  the  circum- 
stances. It  is  amusing  to  note  that  this 
phrase  is  not  given  the  endorsement  of 
imitation  in  the  recent  and  latest  editions 
of  "  Webster's  Unabridged  Dictionary," 
wherein  the  preposition  is  always  in. 

The  letter  writer  himself  is  not  so  likely 
to  make  constant  use  of  books  of  reference, 
and  yet  some  of  the  most  successful  and 
thoroughly  practical  business  men  are  con- 
stant students  of  dictionary,  thesaurus,  books 
of  synonyms,  and  other  guides,  in  order  that 


174     The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

they  may  improve  the  style  of  their  business 
correspondence.  It  may  be  that  busy  com- 
mercial men  generally  give  no  personal  at- 
tention to  such  matters;  and  yet  I  can  but 
think  that  if  two  letters,  dealing  with  the 
same  subject  or  making  identical  offers,  are 
received  by  one  man,  the  one  concisely,  cor- 
rectly, and  gracefully  expressed,  but  with 
no  suggestion  of  affected  or  superior  knowl- 
edge, the  other  faulty  in  spelling,  grammar, 
and  construction,  rambling  and  incoherent 
in  style,  the  receiver  will  probably  give 
first  attention  to  the  former,  unless  there 
is  strong  personal  or  economic  reason  for 
giving  the  second  preference. 

I  am  not  disposed  to  recommend  any 
particular  dictionary;  for  I  think  there  will 
come  before  long  a  rebellion  against  the 
present  inconsistent  rules  and  recommenda- 
tions of  the  Reformed  Spelling  Society,  and 
there  will  result  a  return  to  the  beauty  of 
the  English  language,  with  certain  desirable 
changes  which  shall  be  agreed  upon  by 
English  writers  and  speakers  of  the  whole 
world.  Still,  I  think  that  for  desk  use  such 
handy  books  as  Charles  John  Smith's  "  Syn- 
onyms discriminated,"  and  Louis  A.  Flem- 
ing's "  Synonyms,  Autonyms,  and  Associated 


The  Elastic  English  Language     175 

Words,"  will  be  sufficient  for  most  purposes. 
Those  whose  correspondence  takes  them  into 
wider  fields  than  just  the  United  States,  and 
those  who  contemplate  writing  for  publica- 
tion, contributions  to  magazines  or  news- 
papers or  books,  will  discover,  each  for  him- 
self, what  is  truly  helpful  in  the  particular 
case. 

But,  above  all  things,  consistency  is  to  be 
commended.  Whatever  standard  for  spell- 
ing, locution,  or  rhetoric  is  decided  upon 
after  mature  deliberation  and,  perhaps,  on 
the  advice  of  competent  friends,  be  loyal  to 
that  authority  at  all  times;  except,  it  may 
be,  when  engaged  in  correspondence  with 
foreigners,  when  localisms  should  not  be  too 
assertive.  I  know  English  firms  who  have 
refused  to  engage  in  correspondence  with 
Americans  because  their  sense  of  propriety 
was  shocked  by  what  they  chose  to  call  (in- 
correctly, to  be  sure)  "  offensive  American- 
isms. "  If  business  promises  to  be  worth 
seeking,  concession  may  sometimes  be  made 
advantageously. 


CHAPTER    III 
STYLE 

i.    Definition 

A  VERY  simple  definition  of  this  word 
^  style  would  be  to  say:  it  is  the  way 
in  which  a  note,  letter,  essay,  book,  or  any- 
thing else  in  literature  is  written;  .or  any 
conversation,  address,  speech,  extempore 
sermon,  or  whatever  it  may  be,  is  spoken. 
The  Century  Dictionary's  definition  is: 
"  Mode  of  expression  in  writing  or  speak- 
ing; characteristic  diction;  a  particular 
method  of  expressing  thought  by  selection 
or  collocution  of  words,  distinct  in  some- 
respect  from  other  methods,  as  determined 
by  nationality,  period,  literary  form,  indi- 
viduality, etc.;  in  an  absolute  sense,  appro- 
priate or  suitable  diction;  conformity  to  an 
approved  literary  standard:  as,  the  style 
of  Shakespere  or  of  Dickens;  antiquated 
or  modern  style;  didactic,  poetic,  or  fo- 
rensic style;  a  pedantic  style;  a  nervous 
style;  a  cynical  style"  If  the  reader  un- 


Style  177 

derstands  clearly  the  meaning  and  use  of 
all  those  words,  the  definition  is  fairly  satis- 
factory; yet  it  is  open  to  the  charge  of 
being  pedantic  and  too  technical.  Most 
people  who  find  it  necessary  to  consult  the 
dictionary  frequently  are  not  scholars,  in  the 
sense  of  the  word  that  means  educated 
rather  above  the  average.  Therefore  the 
definition  quoted  is  itself  bad  style,  because 
it  is  beyond  the  understanding  of,  probably, 
a  majority  of  people,  and  of  particularly 
the  classes  for  whom  this  handbook  is  spe- 
cially prepared. 

Although  Herbert  Spencer,  in  his  "  Phi- 
losophy of  Style, "  does  not  give  a  precise 
definition  of  the  word,  yet  he  suggests  what 
he  seems  to  think  it  is  when  he  says,  "  the 
importance  of  economizing  the  reader's  or 
hearer's  attention. "  That  is  to  say,  we 
should  try  to  speak  and  to  write  so  that  the 
listener  or  the  reader  will  understand  us 
clearly  and  at  once;  without  —  in  the  case 
of  spoken  words  —  making  it  necessary  for 
him  to  ask  us  to  repeat;  or  —  in  writing  — 
compelling  the  reader  to  go  back  and  read 
over  again  so  much  as  a  single  phrase,  sen- 
tence, or  paragraph  before  he  catches  our 
meaning  precisely. 


178      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

2.    Contrast 

This  is  a  feature  which  has  little  reason 
for  being  conspicuous,  or  even  existent,  in 
ordinary  business  or  friendly  letters.  In 
business  correspondence  it  may  almost  be 
said  to  be  out  of  place.  It  is  defined  in 
dictionaries  as  a  comparison  of  two  things, 
abstract  or  concrete,  by  showing  as  clearly 
as  possible  how  entirely  unlike  they  are; 
the  placing  side  by  side  of  things  which  are 
entirely  opposite  to  each  other  in  every  im- 
portant characteristic,  in  order  to  make  the 
antagonism  of  their  qualities  all  the  more 
apparent.  As  an  extreme  example  of  con- 
trast, I  might  say  that  if  there  were  no  such 
thing  as  evil  in  the  world,  we  should  be 
unable  to  understand  and  appreciate  virtue: 
therefore  we  ought  to  be  glad  that  there 
is  evil!  Or  I  might  say  it  is  the  darkness 
of  night  alone  which  enables  us  to  under- 
stand the  brightness  of  day.  Of  course  this 
characteristic  is  most  conspicuously  brought 
out  in  pictorial  art,  when  one  bright  color 
makes  the  adjoining  somber  one  appear  all 
the  more  gloomy;  or,  on  the  other  hand, 
we  may  say  that  it  is  the  sober,  dingy  color 
that  enables  us  to  see  the  beauty  of  that 


Style  179 

which  we  call  the  brilliant  one.  It  must  be 
noted  most  carefully  that  contrast  demands 
that  the  two  things  to  be  considered,  either 
in  art  or  literature,  must  be  in  juxtaposi- 
tion, that  is,  literally  side  by  side. 

In  ordinary  letters  there  is  seldom  occa- 
sion to  give  a  vivid  description  of  something, 
and  then  suddenly  to  change  the  style  to 
something  that  is  the  very  opposite  or  in 
sharp  contrast.  As  we  proceed  in  the  scale 
of  actual  letters,  it  is  evident  that  this 
feature,  contrast,  may  be  given  greater  im- 
portance as  the  correspondence  becomes 
discursive,  descriptive,  or  narrative.  It 
probably  reaches  its  climax,  or  absolute 
height  of  importance,  in  love  letters,  wherein 
the  swain  draws  a  sharp  contrast  between 
his  own  unworthiness  and  the  brilliant 
charms  of  the  lady  to  whom  he  is  writing. 

At  the  same  time  it  is  by  no  means  im- 
possible that  a  very  precise  business  man 
may  wish  to  express  his  satisfaction  or  his 
displeasure  by  using  the  figure  of  speech, 
contrast.  When  such  occasion  arises,  great 
care  should  be  taken  to  be  consistent  even 
in  bringing  together  things  that  are  very 
different.  To  say  that  a  quantity  of  flour 
has  been  received  in  such  bad  condition  that 


i8o     The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

the  stuff  is  like  sacks  of  dirty  chalk,  might 
be  permitted;  but  to  contrast  flour  with 
something  that  causes  a  violent  or  impos- 
sible strain  upon  the  imagination  —  a  liquid, 
for  instance,  or  something  inflammable  — 
should  be  avoided. 

3.    The  Right  Style 

Beginning  with  the  terse,  brief,  and  direct 
business  letter,  in  which  the  writer,  having 
something  concrete  to  say,  does  it  with  just 
as  few  words  as  possible,  and  going  on  to 
the  most  flowery  expression  of  which  our 
language  is  capable,  there  is  a  right  style 
for  every  gradation  in  ceremony  and  matter. 
The  business  man,  who,  when  at  his  desk, 
properly  considers  every  superfluous  word 
as  almost  a  crime,  may  nevertheless,  in  his 
leisure  or  recreation,  derive  the  utmost 
pleasure  and  satisfaction  from  an  essay  or 
poem  that  is  simply  extravagant  in  the  use 
of  words  and  overflowing  with  beautiful 
figures  of  speech. 

I  take,  as  examples  of  good  general  style 
in  English  composition,  one  of  Benjamin 
Franklin's  letters  and  Abraham  Lincoln's 
"  Gettysburg  Address."  The  first  is  one  of 
the  shortest  I  could  find  in  the  Alfred  Henry 


Style  1 8 1 

Smith  collection.  I  know  it  is  not  so  satis- 
factory for  my  purpose  as  some  of  the 
others;  but  for  one  of  those  I  have  not 
sufficient  space:  the  one  I  have  chosen  is 
in  reply  to  an  address  of  the  Assembly  of 
Pennsylvania,  congratulating  him  upon  his 
safe  return  from  Europe. 

MR.  SPEAKER  AND  GENTLEMEN, 

/  am  extreamly  happy  to  find  by  your 
friendly  and  affectionate  Address,  that  my 
Endeavours  to  serve  our  Country  in  the  late 
important  struggle  have  met  with  the  Ap- 
probation of  so  respectable  a  Body  as  the 
Representatives  of  the  Freemen  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. I  esteem  that  Approbation  as  one 
of  the  greatest  Honours  of  my  life.  I  hope 
the  Peace  with  which  God  has  been  gra- 
ciously pleased  to  bless  us  may  be  lasting) 
and  that  the  free  Constitution  we  now  enjoy 
may  long  contribute  to  promote  our  com- 
mon Felicity.  The  kind  Wishes  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  for  my  particular  Happiness 
affect  me  very  sensibly,  and  I  beg  they  would 
accept  my  thankful  acknowledgments. 

As  an  example  of  the  direct  epistolary 
style  and  of  simple  English,  nothing  could 
be  better. 


1 82      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

The  famous  "  Gettysburg  Address  "  is  of 
a  somewhat  different  type  of  English.  It 
is  not  so  purely  Anglo-Saxon,  yet  its  direct- 
ness and  force  make  it  a  model. 

Fourscore  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers 
brought  forth  on  this  continent  a  new 
nation,  conceived  in  liberty,  and  dedicated 
to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are  created 
equal.  Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great 
civil  war;  testing  whether  that  nation,  or 
any  nation  so  conceived  and  so  dedicated, 
can  long  endure.  We  are  met  on  a  great 
battlefield  of  that  war.  We  have  come  to 
dedicate  a  portion  of  that  field  as  a  final 
resting  place  for  those  who  here  gave  their 
lives  that  that  nation  might  live.  It  is  alto- 
gether fitting  and  proper  that  we  should  do 
this.  But,  in  a  larger  sense,  we  can  not  dedi- 
cate—  we  can  not  consecrate  —  we  can  not 
hallow  this  ground.  The  brave  men,  living 
and  dead,  who  struggled  here,  have  conse- 
crated it,  far  above  our  poor  power  to  add  or 
detract.  The  world  will  little  note,  nor  long 
remember  what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never 
forget  what  they  did  here.  It  is  for  us  the 
living,  rather,  to  be  dedicated  here  to  the 
unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought  here 
have  thus  far  so  nobly  advanced.  It  is  rather 
for  us  to  be  here  dedicated  to  the  great 


Style  183 

task  remaining  before  us,  —  that  from  these 
honored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion  to 
the  cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last  full 
measure  of  devotion  —  that  we  here  highly 
resolve  that  the  dead  shall  not  have  died  in 
vain  —  that  the  nation,  under  God,  shall 
have  a  new  birth  of  freedom  —  and  that 
the  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people, 
for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the 
earth. 

4.    The  Wrong  Style 

From  a  most  unfortunate  wealth  of  ma- 
terial, I  have  chosen  something  from  Miss 
Marie  Corelli's  "  Barabbas." 

Then,  glancing  from  the  Accused  to  the 
accusers,  from  the  priests  to  the  people, 
from  the  people  in  turn  to  Barabbas,  who 
waited  before  him  sullenly  expectant,  he 
sighed  impatiently,  and  with  the  desperately 
resolved  air  of  one  compelled  to  perform 
the  very  act  his  soul  most  abhorred,  he  beck- 
oned to  a  clerk  in  attendance  and  gave  him 
a  whispered  order.  The  man  retired,  but 
returned  almost  immediately  bearing  a  large 
silver  bowl  filed  with  pure  water.  Flinging 
back  his  rich  robe  of  office  and  allowing  it 
to  trail  in  voluminous  folds  behind  him, 


184      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

Pilate,  closely  followed  by  the  attendant 
carrying  the  silver  vessel,  stepped  forward 
again  to  confront  the  populace,  who  were 
becoming  more  contentious  and  noisy  with 
every  moment's  delay.  On  perceiving  the 
governor's  advance,  however,  they  ceased 
their  turbulent  murmurings  and  angry  dis- 
putations, and  concentrated  all  their  attention 
upon  him,  the  more  particularly  as  his  move- 
ments were  somewhat  strange  and  unex- 
pected. Rolling  up  his  gold-embroidered 
sleeves  well  above  his  wrists,  he  raised  his 
bare  hands  aloft  and  showed  them,  palms 
outward  to  the  multitude,  the  great  jewels 
on  his  fingers  flashing  like  stars  in  the  morn- 
ing sun.  He  held  them  so  uplifted  for  a 
minute's  space,  while  the  people,  wondering, 
looked  on  in  silence,  —  then,  slowly  lower- 
ing them,  he  dipped  them  deep  in  the  shin- 
ing bowl,  rinsing  them  over  and  over  again 
in  the  clear  cold  element  which  sparkled  in 
its  polished  receptacle  like  an  opal  against 
fire.  And  as  he  shook  the  bright  drops 
away  from  him,  he  cried  in  a  loud,  penetrat- 
ing voice  —  "I  am  innocent  of  the  blood  of 
this  just  person!  See  ye  to  it!" 

The  style  is  bad  in  many  ways:    it  is  in- 
flated and  inappropriate;    the  figure  of  the 


Style  185 

jewels  flashing  like  stars  in  the  morning  sun 
is  inaccurate  because  the  stars  do  not  appear 
when  the  sun  is  shining. 

In  the  King  James  version  of  the  Bible 
the  same  scene  is  thus  described: 

So  when  Pilate  saw  that  he  prevailed 
nothing,  but  rather  that  a  tumult  was  aris- 
ing, he  took  water  and  washed  his  hands 
before  the  multitude,  saying,  "  I  am  innocent 
of  the  blood  of  this  just  person:  see  ye 
to  it!  " 

The  revised  version  makes  no  great 
change  in  words,  only  "  this  righteous  man  " 
for  "  this  just  person,"  but  can  there  be  any 
hesitation  in  condemning  the  style  of  that 
quotation  from  the  novel?  Whatever  the 
purpose  of  writing  may  be,  its  character  is 
determined  for  us  by  rules;  they  may  be 
written  or  unwritten,  and  one  of  the  most 
rigid  of  those  rules  is  u  brevity  is  the  soul 
of  wit."  Miss  Corelli's  violation  of  the 
rules  of  style  may  be  taken  as  a  warning 
by  school  boy,  business  man,  author,  and 
every  other  person  who  has  occasion  to  write 
English. 


CHAPTER    IV 

FINISH 

i.    Expression 

T^INISH  is  a  word  that  is  just  as  applicable 
to  a  piece  of  writing  as  it  is  to  a  piece 
of  furniture,  or  anything  else.  The  finish 
of  my  dining-table  tells  every  one  who  looks 
at  the  useful  piece  of  furniture  whether  or 
not  the  workman  through  whose  hands  the 
table  passed  just  before  it  came  into  my 
house  was  competent.  But  it  requires  a 
sharp  examination  to  determine  that  work- 
man's honesty  in  giving  proper  attention  to 
the  construction,  the  parts  of  the  table  that 
are  not  conspicuous.  Any  piece  of  English 
composition  that  has  a  smooth,  pleasing 
sound  as  we  read  it,  and  is  properly  ar- 
ranged according  to  the  rules  of  rhetoric, 
etc.,  may  be  at  once  called  finished;  or  it 
may  be  subjected  to  some  severe  tests  which 
bring  out  defects  in  mechanical  arrangement, 
comparison,  contrast,  style,  etc.;  it  is,  there- 
fore, not  truly  a  finished  piece  of  work. 


Finish  187 

EXPRESSION  is  defined  as  the  art  of  ex- 
pressing, or  embodying,  or  representing  in 
spoken  words,  composition,  or  action;  it  is 
utterance,  or  declaration,  or  representation, 
or  manifestation.  The  long  and  awkward 
words  must  be  used  here  to  avoid  the  lengthy 
phrases  which  would  otherwise  be  necessary. 
In  ordinary  speech,  an  illustration  of  expres- 
sion is  found  in  the  phrase,  an  expression 
of  the  public  will.  In  rhetoric,  however,  the 
word  means  the  peculiar  manner  of  utter- 
ance in  speech,  or  description  in  writing, 
which  is  called  forth  by  the  subject  and  the 
sentiment  aroused  in  the  speaker  or  author. 
It  is  defined,  very  simply,  as  elocution  or 
diction,  that  is,  the  choice  of  words  in  any 
utterance  or  composition.  It  is  something 
that  must  be  considered  most  carefully  by 
all  letter  writers,  with  a  view  to  making  the 
particular  way  chosen  for  expression  appro- 
priate to  the  subject-matter  of  the  corre- 
spondence. Without  this  careful  watch  upon 
his  pen,  there  is  danger  that  the  young  and 
inexperienced  letter  writer  may  commit  a 
blunder  which  will  make  him  appear  ridicu- 
lous. To  discuss  the  iron  market  in  the 
language  of  the  baseball  field,  or  to  describe 
a  boatrace  in  prayer-meeting  terms,  is  to 


1 88      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

commit  a  violation  of  expression,  as  well 
as  of  style,  taste,  judgment,  and  every  other 
rule  of  correspondence. 

2.    Finish  as  applied  to  Business 
Correspondence 

In  no  department  of  letter  writing  is  the 
caution  of  brevity  so  appropriate  and  so 
filled  with  meaning  as  it  is  when  the  busi- 
ness man  is  at  his  desk  prepared  to  take 
up  a  great  mass  of  correspondence.  The 
very  pressure  which  such  accumulation 
means,  when  added  to  the  thousand  and 
one  other  details  of  his  daily  life,  may  lead 
to  a  lack  of  finish  if  the  letter  writer  does 
not  watch  himself  carefully,  or  if  his  stenog- 
rapher and  typist  is  not  exceptionally  com- 
petent in  the  matter  of  details. 

We  are  told  that  "  verbosity,"  the  use  of 
too  many  or  needless  words,  is  always  to  be 
condemned;  and  that  an  "  involved  style," 
one  which  is  not  clear  but  requires  careful 
study  with  re-readings  in  order  to  get  an 
understanding  of  what  is  meant,  is  unpardon- 
able. Yet  in  some  of  the  very  guides  to 
correspondence  and  text-books  on  composi- 
tion and  rhetoric  wherein  these  declarations 
are  made,  numerous  words  may  be  properly 


Finish  189 

struck  out,  and  not  infrequently  a  sentence 
may  be  rearranged  so  as  to  accomplish 
"  economy  of  attention  on  the  part  of  the 
reader." 

In  one  of  just  such  books  I  read  "  that 
parentheses  should  be  avoided,  and  that 
Saxon  words  should  be  used  in  preference 
to  those  of  Latin  origin,  are  established 
precepts."  That  sentence  itself  breaks  the 
rules  it  is  intended  to  make;  and  on  the 
very  page  where  it  appears,  in  just  six  lines 
there  are  ten  words  which  come  from  the 
Latin  language,  either  direct  or  through 
Italian  or  French,  for  which  equally  good 
and  pure  English  substitutes  might  have 
been  used.  Besides,  parenthetical  phrases 
are  by  no  means  wanting  on  that  same  page. 

In  business  correspondence,  style,  expres- 
sion, taste,  force,  and  all  else  that  helps  to 
make  a  letter  effective,  are  as  important  and 
as  specialized  as  they  are  in  any  other  de- 
partment of  our  subject.  So  far  as  the 
parenthesis  is  concerned,  its  use  sometimes 
puts  away  the  necessity  for  another  and  long 
sentence:  it  may  very  properly  be  set  off 
by  enclosing  brackets  rather  than  commas. 
As  for  Anglo-Saxon  words,  there  should  be 
no  hesitation  in  giving  them  preference;  yet 


190      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

very  often  we  avoid  disagreeable  repetition 
by  using  a  synonym  that  is  derived  from 
the  Latin  or  Greek  language.  All  una- 
bridged dictionaries  give  information  as  to 
the  source  of  a  derived  word.  The  reader 
who  wishes  to  make  a  careful  study  of  this 
subject,  so  that  his  correspondence  may  per- 
haps be  a  model  of  pure,  strong,  graceful 
English,  is  recommended  to  procure  a  copy 
of  "An  Etymological  Dictionary  of  the  Eng- 
lish Language. "  It  was  compiled  by  the 
Rev.  Walter  W.  Skeat,  who  was,  until  his 
death  only  a  few  months  ago,  Elrington 
and  Bosworth  Professor  of  Anglo-Saxon  in 
the  University  of  Cambridge,  England.  He 
was  probably  the  most  eminent  and  com- 
petent authority  on  "  English  undefiled." 

I  have  given  so  much  space  to  what  is, 
I  know,  a  digression,  because  the  importance 
of  Anglo-Saxon  is  something  which  ought  to 
interest  the  business  man  almost  as  much 
as  it  does  the  philologist.  Such  importance 
is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  the  first  edition 
of  Skeat's  dictionary  was  prepared  in  1879- 
8 1  and  the  fourth  was  issued  in  1910.  The 
last  is  much  larger  than  the  first,  showing 
that  the  interest  in  the  subject  is  a  perma- 
nent one. 


Finish  191 

If  we  accept  Herbert  Spencer's  descrip- 
tion of  language  u  as  an  apparatus  of  sym- 
bols for  the  conveyance  of  thought/'  we 
may  also  say  that,  as  in  a  mechanical  ap- 
paratus, the  more  simple  and  the  better 
arranged  its  parts,  the  greater  will  be  the 
effect  produced. 

3.    Finish  as  related  to  Public  Correspondence 

This  opens  up  a  subject  that  tempts  me 
to  be  discursive,  that  is,  to  wander  away 
from  the  main  thought.  It  is  somewhat 
difficult  to  keep  from  letting  this  section  be- 
come historical  rather  than  strictly  practical. 
We  may  easily  go  back  to  the  baked  tiles 
of  Southwestern  Asia,  or  the  most  ancient 
writings  of  China,  or  the  correspondence  of 
antiquity  wherever  it  has  been  found,  and 
always  there  are  interesting  opportunities 
for  studying  the  variation  and  development 
of  finish.  Of  course  in  all  these  cases  taken 
from  ancient  times  most  of  us  are  dependent 
upon  translations,  and  therefore  the  benefit 
to  be  derived  is  not  of  the  same  kind,  and 
it  certainly  is  not  of  the  same  value,  as  is 
that  which  we  get  from  English  writings. 
For  the  immediate  purpose  of  this  handbook 
we  must  resist  all  temptation  to  study  the 


192      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

writings  of  antiquity,  as  well  as  those  which 
have  to  be  borrowed  from  some  other  lan- 
guage than  our  own. 

So  important  is  the  commencement  of  a 
law,  proclamation,  diplomatic  despatch,  or 
composition  which  is  intended  for  publica- 
tion, that  very  frequently  the  writer  leaves 
his  introduction  to  the  last.  It  is  unques- 
tionably true  that  in  documents  of  such  im- 
portance it  is  not  precisely  the  author  who 
determines  for  himself  and  altogether  in- 
dependently just  what  he  will  write  and  how 
he  will  express  himself.  It  is  often  the 
matter  itself  which  gives  shape  to  the  au- 
thor's thought.  As  he  proceeds  with  his 
writing,  he  often  finds  that  the  words  and 
even  the  paragraphs  take  upon  themselves 
a  form  that  he  would  not  have  admitted 
possible  before  he  actually  undertook  his 
task.  If  this  is  dangerous  (and  for  myself, 
I  think  it  is  not) ,  the  danger  is  much  greater 
for  those  who  dictate  to  a  stenographer  or 
typist  than  it  is  for  the  person  who  uses  his 
pen  and  writes  out  his  thoughts  in  long  hand. 

Some  of  the  best  examples  of  finish  in 
public  correspondence  were  completed,  if  I 
may  so  express  myself,  before  the  opening 
sentence  or  paragraph  had  been  put  into 


Finish  193 

actual  words.  In  this  way  some  of  the  most 
effective  laws  in  our  statute  books  were  fin- 
ished before  the  u  enacting  clause  "  had  been 
prepared.  But  whatever  method  may  be 
followed,  it  is  well  for  the  author  to  read 
his  communication  aloud  to  himself  when 
he  has  (as  he  thinks)  completed  it,  and 
before  he  permits  it  to  leave  his  hands. 
Doing  this  will  often  bring  out  defects  or 
weaknesses  which  did  not  assert  themselves 
as  the  pen  passed  over  the  paper  and  gave 
a  fixed  character  to  what  was  in  his  mind 
in  a  somewhat  undetermined  form.  By  this 
plan  it  will  be  surprisingly  easy  to  detect 
superfluous  words  and  temptations  to  depart 
from  the  rules  for  form,  style,  etc.,  which 
do  not  always  appeal  to  the  eye  as  one  reads 
to  himself.  Indeed,  I  do  not  hesitate  to 
say  that  no  author  can  criticize  his  own 
work  at  all  unless  he  reads  it  aloud:  eye- 
reading  in  this  case  is  absolutely  unreliable. 
The  best  way  of  all  to  determine  as  to 
finish  is  to  submit  the  written  communication 
to  some  friend  who  will  be  kindly  and  yet 
thoroughly  critical.  I  am  speaking  now,  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind,  of  public  correspond- 
ence in  a  very  general  way;  wherein  words 
express  rather  more  than  they  precisely 


194      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

denote.  This  is  the  only  opportunity  I  shall 
have  to  mention  the  essay,  the  story,  or  the 
book,  and  it  is  of  these  I  am  thinking  when 
I  advise  all  young  writers  to  try  to  get  the 
opinion  of  a  friend. 

The  writer  himself  has  been  so  long  alone 
with  his  subject  that  it  has  grown  so  close 
to  him  as  to  make  it  impossible  for  him  to 
stand  away  from  it  and  see  it  in  proper  per- 
spective. For  that  reason,  if  for  no  other, 
it  is  well  to  get  the  opinion  of  some  one 
who  can  look  at  it  from  the  outside,  before 
submitting  it  to  the  final  and  fateful  tests  — 
the  publisher  and  the  public.  This  same  ad- 
vice is  not  entirely  out  of  place  when  applied 
to  specially  important  business  letters,  par- 
ticularly when  their  contents  are  such  as  to 
make  it  even  remotely  possible  that  litiga- 
tion may  result. 

But  this  critic  friend  must  be  somewhat 
more  than  a  mere  kindly  acquaintance;  he 
must  be  competent  and  also  willing  to  incur 
the  danger  of  displeasing,  should  his  opinion 
be  unfavorable  to  the  author.  As  William 
Hunt  said:  "  Don't  mind  what  your  friends 
say  of  your  work!  In  the  first  place,  they 
all  think  you  are  an  idiot:  in  the  second 
place,  they  expect  great  things  of  you:  and 


Finish  195 

in  the  third  place,  they  would  n't  know  it 
even  if  you  did  a  good  thing !"  So  the 
choice  of  a  critic  friend  is  really  a  serious 
matter,  after  all. 

There  are  so  many  pleasing  examples  of 
admirable  style  and  finish  in  the  published 
letters  and  correspondence  of  eminent  states- 
men, as  well  as  in  state  papers,  that  it  is 
not  necessary  to  mention  names  here.  In 
the  list  of  British  publications  of  this  kind, 
and  in  those  of  our  own  country's  public 
men,  there  is  a  wealth  of  material  which 
will  well  repay  careful  study.  It  will  be 
noted  that  the  best  are  always  comparable 
with  the  standards  of  clearness,  simplicity, 
force,  and  finish  which  our  own  George 
Washington  established:  they  are  adapted 
to  the  understanding  of  the  least  educated 
persons. 

4.    Finish  as  related  to  General  and  Social 
Correspondence 

The  word  finish,  when  applied  to  this  sub- 
division of  letter  writing,  will  often  mean 
very  little  more  than  the  happy  choice  of 
words  and  the  felicitous  manner  of  express- 
ing what  it  is  desired  to  say.  It  is,  there- 
fore, a  combination  of  good  taste,  kindly 


196      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

consideration  for  the  feelings  of  the  person 
to  whom  the  note  or  letter  is  sent,  and  an 
indication  of  both  culture  and  education. 
Care  should  be  taken  to  avoid  all  affectation 
of  superiority  in  position  or  culture.  When 
properly  considered  and  used,  finish  will 
make  all  necessary  concession  to  superiors 
in  social  or  official  rank,  and  will  indicate 
in  a  pleasing  way  the  equality  which  is  ad- 
mitted. It  will,  in  the  case  of  necessity  or 
advisability,  mark  with  perfect  clearness  the 
just  superiority  of  the  writer,  which  must  be 
recognized  because  society  even  in  the  United 
States  is  not  democratic.  In  such  circum- 
stances the  receiver,  unless  a  person  of  dense 
ignorance  or  of  offensive  manner  or  of  ag- 
gressive presumption,  when  replying  will  not 
dream  of  overstepping  the  bounds  of  pro- 
priety; to  do  this  often  leads  to  a  pretended 
air  of  familiarity  which  is  peculiarly  offen- 
sive. 

There  is,  probably,  no  one  feature  of 
letter  writing  which  has  developed  greater 
changes  than  this  finish.  The  contrast  is 
very  great  indeed  between  what  was  consid- 
ered proper  a  few  generations  ago  and 
what  is  claimed  to  be  correct  by  recognized 
authorities  now.  It  is  not  meant  to  suggest 


Finish  197 

that  the  most  finished  letter  writer,  regard- 
less of  sex  and  social  position,  cannot  ad- 
minister a  rebuke  where  such  is  deserved; 
but  that  good  taste,  which  is  always  a  char- 
acteristic of  the  person  who  properly  under- 
stands and  uses  finish  in  social  correspond- 
ence, acts  to  restrain  from  administering  a 
rebuff,  no  matter  what  the  provocation  may 
be.  To  accomplish  this  disagreeable  result 
in  an  indirect  way  is  probably  the  only  per- 
missible and  defensible  excuse  for  ignoring 
altogether  a  letter  or  note.  It  is  true  that 
all  who  have  undertaken  to  give  advice  or 
assistance  in  this  matter  of  correspondence 
seem  to  be  agreed  in  saying  that  every  writ- 
ten communication  is  entitled  to  recognition 
in  the  form  of  a  reply.  If  the  writer  of  the 
first  communication  has  been  presumptuous 
or  gratuitously  rude,  the  epistle  may  be 
ignored  as  a  merited  rebuke.  Yet,  to  be 
entirely  consistent  in  his  attitude  towards 
society,  the  receiver  of  even  such  an  un- 
pleasant letter  ought  to  reply.  It  is  in  fram- 
ing the  reply  that  finish  will  administer  the 
stinging  rebuke  which  is  deserved.  In  look- 
ing over  printed  volumes  of  social  corre- 
spondence which  was  carried  on  a  century 
ago,  the  most  amusing  evidence  of  the  dif- 


198      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

ferent  ways  of  estimating  finish  then  and 
now  will  be  found  in  the  stilted  and  pedantic 
phrases  employed  by  our  ancestors  to  begin 
a  letter.  The  same  characteristic  is  notice- 
able in  the  closing  of  social  correspond- 
ence. When  contrasted  with  what  we  now 
consider  the  ease,  grace,  and  finish  of  the 
cultivated  and  experienced  letter  writer,  it 
almost  seems  that  the  language  employed 
by  the  two  groups  had  itself  been  radically 
changed. 

5.    Conclusion :    Admonitory 

It  has  been  the  principal  purpose  of  this 
book  to  impress  upon  the  person  who  has 
occasion  to  write  letters  the  importance  of 
deciding  just  what  is  to  be  said  before  be- 
ginning to  write,  and  then  saying  just  that 
with  as  few  words  as  possible.  Attention 
has  been  given  to  the  fact  that  the  phrase 
"  as  few  words  as  possible  "  may  have  sev- 
eral different  meanings,  according  to  the 
varying  -nature  of  the  communication. 

It  is  surprising  how  very  few  teachers 
are  to  be  found  who  are  competent  to  give 
instruction  in  the  art  of  letter  writing.  In- 
asmuch as  this  is  the  case,  it  seems  to  fol- 
low that  every  writer  must  be  his  own 


Finish  199 

teacher  to  a  very  considerable  extent.  This 
necessity  is  recognized  frankly  in  this  book; 
and  instead  of  trying  to  prepare  a  text-book, 
the  writer  has  been  satisfied  to  point  out 
some  of  the  reefs  and  snags  in  the  stream 
of  letters,  and  snares  and  pitfalls  in  the 
pathway  of  the  inexperienced  letter  writer. 
It  is  hoped  that  these  suggestions  and  warn- 
ings will  be  beneficial  in  the  training  and 
practise  which  each  must  provide  for  him- 
self, since  he  cannot  count  upon  getting  them 
from  others  in  just  the  way  they  must  assume, 
to  have  practical  benefit  in  each  individual 
case. 

Strange  as  it  must  seem  to  most  readers, 
there  is  much  more  literature  of  an  educa- 
tional and  suggestive  nature  at  the  service  of 
the  person  whose  literary  ambition  has  a 
higher  purpose  and  aim  than  the  very  impor- 
tant one  of  letter  writing  than  the  business 
correspondent  has  at  his  command.  Possibly 
I  am  in  error  when  I  intimate  even  that  any 
character  of  writing  can  be  loftier  in  results 
than  the  letter.  It  would  be  easy  to  pre- 
pare a  fairly  extensive  list  of  books  which 
deal  with  the  Art  of  Literary  Composition, 
the  Art  and  Craft  of  the  Author,  the  Way 
to  Write  English  —  that  is,  composition  for 


200     The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

essays,  short  stories,  and  books  —  and  a 
score  of  similar  subjects;  while  the  sensible 
guides  to  correct  form  in  letter  writing  are 
not  enough  to  hang  one  on  each  finger  of 
a  single  hand. 

By  scores  and  double  scores  of  authors, 
teachers  of  composition,  and  other  success- 
ful literary  craftsmen,  it  is  impressed  upon 
the  would-be  writer  that  he  must  have  a 
clear  idea  of  what  he  intends  to  say  before 
he  sits  down  to  write.  Mr.  C.  E.  Heisch* 
says  that  when  the  writer  has  made  up  his 
mind  what  he  wishes  to  say,  "  he  may  sit 
down  doggedly,  and  set  himself  to  express 
in  writing  the  thoughts  that  are  in  his  mind." 
In  every  way  this  may  be  applied  to  the 
letter  writer. 

In  the  ordinary  course  of  correspond- 
ence by  letter  the  writer  is  relieved  from 
one  source  of  embarrassment  which  often 
troubles  the  "  author,"  in  the  narrow  and 
strictly  literary  sense  of  the  word.  It  does 
not  often  happen  that  the  letter  writer  has 
to  seek  a  subject,  for  the  correspondence 
will  probably  have  developed  to  that  stage 
when  it  brings  subjects  in  plenty.  Yet  in 

*  "The  Art  and  Craft  of  the  Author." 


Finish  201 

beginning  a  correspondence  it  is  most  es- 
sential that  the  letter  writer  think  deeply 
and  clearly  before  he  commences  to  write. 
If  his  correspondent  is  at  all  shrewd,  and 
if  there  is  evidence  of  weakness  in  the  way 
and  measure  of  thought,  it  will  be  readily 
detected,  and  the  effect  may  be  disastrous. 

It  is  hoped  that  sufficient  suggestions 
have  been  given  as  to  the  rhetorical  features 
of  correspondence  —  Style,  Form,  Force, 
Finish,  and  the  like  —  as  well  as  in  matters 
relating  to  mechanical  construction,  etc.  In 
this  closing  section  of  the  book  it  seems  to 
be  quite  appropriate  to  say  something  of 
the  way  to  close  the  text  of  the  letter.  If 
it  is  sometimes  difficult  to  begin  a  letter, 
just  as  it  is  to  start  a  more  pretentious  piece 
of  literary  work,  it  is  probably  more  trouble- 
some to  close  one  properly.  A  graceful  or 
striking  ending  is  not  essential  to  a  business 
letter;  on  the  contrary,  such  a  thing  is  dis- 
tinctly out  of  place:  an  abrupt  stop  is  pref- 
erable to  a  long-drawn-out  climax.  But 
whatever  the  communication  may  be  —  busi- 
ness letter,  formal  official  despatch,  precise 
social  letter,  or  friendly,  chatty  note  —  it  is 
desirable  for  the  writer  to  stop  the  moment 
he  has  said  all  there  is  to  say.  Business 


202      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

letters  often  come  quietly  and  naturally  to 
an  end,  without  abruptness;  this  is  notice- 
ably the  case  in  the  correspondence  of  the 
man  whose  experience  has  been  long  and 
extended  in  range.  Yet  abruptness,  which 
fairly  makes  the  reader  catch  his  breath,  is 
better  than  the  wandering  on  and  on,  simply 
because  the  writer  has  not  wit  or  wisdom 
sufficient  to  form  the  concluding  sentence. 

In  this  little  volume,  as  it  has  been  written, 
admonitions  and  suggestions  have  been  given 
as  they  occurred  to  the  writer.  They  may 
not  always  have  been  precisely  apposite,  yet 
it  is  believed  that  they  will  be  helpful.  Now, 
in  order  that  he  may  not  be  fairly  accused 
of  inability  to  find  a  proper  concluding  sen- 
tence, the  author  tries  to  practise  what  he 
has  preached. 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 

SPECIMEN  FORMS  AND  SUGGESTIONS 

A  communication  to  the  President  of  the 
United  States: 

There  should  be  ample  space  left  at  the 
top  and  the  bottom.  There  should  be  a  wide 
margin  at  the  left  and  a  fair  one  at  right. 
The  communication  should  be  written  on 
legal-cap  size  paper,  unruled,  and  may  be 
either  written  with  the  pen  or  typed,  at  the 
writer's  pleasure.  It  must  be  folded,  across 
the  paper,  twice;  and  will  be,  of  course,  en- 
closed  in  a  proper-sized  envelope.  "  Legal- 
cap  "  paper  is  heavy,  usually  8^  by  13  inches. 

9999  DE  QUINCEY  AVENUE,  CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 

June  17,  1913 
SIR: 

I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  receipt  of  your 
communication  of  June  loth,  informing  me  of  — 

With  assurances  of  profound  respect, 
I  have  the  honor  to  be, 
Sir, 

Your  obedient  Servant, 

JOHN  ADAMS 


206      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

To 

THE  PRESIDENT 
EXECUTIVE  MANSION 

WASHINGTON 

DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA 

This  same  address  is  to  be  written  on  the 
envelope,  and  the  writer's  full  name  and 
address  should  be  given  in  the  upper,  left- 
hand  earner. 

A  communication  to  a  Cabinet  officer: 
Spaces  and  margins  should  be  similar  to 
those  in  the  case  of  a  communication  to  The 
President.  It  is  preferable  in  this  case,  also, 
to  use  legal-cap  paper,  unruled;  although 
custom  sanctions  the  use  of  the  letter-size. 
The  paper  must  be  of  good  quality,  and  the 
letter  is  to  be  enclosed  in  an  official-sized 
envelope. 

9999  DE  QUINCEY  AVENUE,  CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 

June  17,  1913 
EXCELLENCY  : 

I  have  the  honor  to  request  that  a  Department  of 

State  passport  for  myself  and  family  be  sent  to  me. 

I  enclose  the  necessary  information,  duly  verified 

by  a  proper  official,  as  well  as  a  Post  Office  money 

order  for  the  customary  fee. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be 

Your  Excellency's 

Obedient  Servant, 

JOHN  ADAMS 


Appendix  207 

To 

THE  HONORABLE  MARK  ANTONY 
SECRETARY  OF  STATE 

DEPARTMENT  OF  STATE 
WASHINGTON 

DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA 

A  communication  to  a  Diplomatic  Repre- 
sentative of  the  United  States  at  a  foreign 
court : 

The  same  conventions  may  properly  be 
followed  in  this  case  as  in  the  preceding. 

It  is  customary  to  use  the  title  of  Hon- 
orable in  addressing  Ambassadors  and  full 
Ministers;  but  it  should  be  remembered  that 
in  Great  Britain,  "  Honourable  "  is  a  quasi- 
title  of  nobility,  given  to  younger  sons  and 
daughters  of  peers.  It  is  the  common  style 
of  the  younger  sons  of  earls  and  the  children 
of  viscounts,  barons,  and  legal  life  peers. 
A  marquess  is  "Most  Honourable";  earls, 
viscounts,  barons,  and  privy  councillors  are 
"Right  Honourable"  and  so  are  the  lord 
mayor  of  London  and  the  lord  provost  of 
Edinburgh  during  their  actual  terms  of  office. 
In  the  British  colonies  Honourable  has  come 
to  be  used  pretty  much  in  the  same  way  that 
we  employ  it;  for  members  of  executive 
and  legislative  bodies  and  for  judges  during 
service. 


2O8      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

9999  DE  QUINCEY  AVENUE,  CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 

June  17,  1913 
EXCELLENCY: 
I  have  the  honor 

•  •  •  •          •          •          • 

I  have  the  honor  to  be 

Your  Excellency's 

Obedient  Servant, 

JOHN  ADAMS 

To 
THE  HONORABLE  MARK  ANTONY 

AMERICAN   AMBASSADOR   EXTRAORDINARY   AND  PLENI- 
POTENTIARY 

AMERICAN  EMBASSY 
LONDON 

ENGLAND 

or 

To 
THE  HONORABLE  MARK  ANTONY 

ENVOY  EXTRAORDINARY   AND  MINISTER  PLENIPOTEN- 
TIARY 

AMERICAN  LEGATION 
COPENHAGEN 

DENMARK 

A  communication  to  a  Consul-General,  a 
Consul,  a  Vice-Consul,  or  a  Consular  Agent, 
may  be  phrased  in  less  formal  terms,  and 
may  properly  assume  the  form  of  an  ordi- 
nary letter. 


(Appendix  209 

9999  DE  QUINCEY  AVENUE,  CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 
June  17,  1913 

MARK  ANTONY,  ESQUIRE 
AMERICAN  CONSUL-GENERAL 

[Post  Office  address,  if  practicable.] 
LIVERPOOL 

ENGLAND 

DEAR  SIR: 

I  am  desirous  of  procuring  information  as  to  ... 
and  respectfully  request  your  assistance. 

Assuring  you  that  I  shall  highly  appreciate  any 
help  you  may  be  able  to  render,  I  am 
Yours  respectfully 

JOHN  ADAMS 

A  communication  to  a  diplomatic  repre- 
sentative of  a  foreign  government  at  Wash- 
ington should  follow  the  same  general  form 
adopted  for  Cabinet  Officers,  Ambassadors, 
and  Ministers.  It  is  preferable  to  use  legal- 
cap  paper,  but  not  imperative.  The  despatch 
may  be  impersonal,  thus: 

SIR: 


To 

THE  GERMAN  AMBASSADOR 
GERMAN  EMBASSY 

WASHINGTON 

DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA 


2io      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

It  is  better  to  ascertain  the  heraldic  and 
academic  titles  of  the  ambassador,  and  to 
address  him  personally  and  formally: 

HIS  EXCELLENCY 

COUNT  A.  B.  C.,  degrees,  titles,  etc 
His  IMPERIAL  GERMAN  MAJESTY'S 

AMBASSADOR  EXTRAORDINARY  AND  PLENIPOTENTIARY 
etc 

The  General  of  the  Army  is  addressed 
thus: 

To 
GENERAL  JOHN  D.  SMITH 

COMMANDING  THE  ARMIES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  head  of  the  Navy: 

To 
ADMIRAL  JOHN  D.  SMITH 

COMMANDING  THE  FLEETS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

But  there  is  some  difference  of  opinion. 
Precise  people  contend  that  the  title  should 
be  "  Major-General  "  or  "  Rear-Admiral." 

A  specimen  or  two  of  old-time  love-letters 
serve  to  show  that  there  has  not  been  much 
change  in  this  form  of  correspondence,  and 
probably  most  people  will  say,  u  but  little 
improvement." 

William  Pitt,  Earl  of  Chatham,  wrote  the 
following  to  the  Countess: 


Appendix  211 

BURTON  PYNSENT,  April  25,  1772 

My  epistle  of  to-day  will  be  short,  and  to  me 
very  sweet;  for  it  is  to  tell  you  we  propose  starting 
out  on  Monday  next.  The  boys  are  drunk  with 
expectations  of  joy;  /,  not  of  the  soberest.  We 
celebrated  yesterday  a  cheerful  birthday.  William 
complimented  James  on  being  so  great  an  arithme- 
tician, being  now  past  decimals,  and  in  un-decimals; 
so  you  see  we  pun  too,  in  order  to  fit  ourselves  for 
the  University.  They  both  made  a  morning's  visit 
to  Mr.  Speke,  whose  birthday,  too,  yesterday  was. 
He  showed  James  a  charming  mare,  promised  to 
him  for  next  September:  so  you  may  judge  if  the 
day  was  happy.  My  kind  -old  neighbour  this  mo- 
ment arrives,  and  leaves  time  only  to  say  my  im- 
patience to  see,  you  again  and  the  'dear  children  will 
not  be  conveyed  by  words;  till  which  happy  mo- 
ment, a  Dio  vi  raccommando. 

Miss  Jane  Welsh  wrote  thus  to  Thomas 
Carlyle: 

'HADDINGTON,'  THE  SANCTUM,  Sunday  Morning 

8  May,  1825 

BEST  AND  DEAREST,  —  /  believe  I  am  going  to 
lose  the  faculty  of  writing,  as  I  have  already  lost 
the  faculty  of  speech.  For  this  half  hour  and  more 
I  have  been  trying  to  express  to  you  some  of  the 
hundred  things  that  are  in  my  heart;  and  I  can 
find  no  words,  at  least,  none  but  such  as  seem  cold 
and  inadequate  to  ivhat  I  feel.  Well!  no  matter! 
You  know  already  that  I  love  you  with  all  my  soul; 
that  I  am  sad,  very  sad  at  parting  with  you;  and 


212      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

shall  not  be  otherwise  than  sad  till  we  meet  again. 
And  knowing*  this,  you  may  easily  imagine  all  that 
I   would   and   cannot   say.  .  .  .  I  will   walk    too, 
every  day,  and  do  all  things  that  you  bade  me.    Yes- 
terday I  was  at  Paradise.    Alas!  Paradise  no  more:  , 
Ich  bin  allein.  .  .  .  God  bless  you,  meine  Seele. 
Yours  forever  and  ever* 

JANE  WELSH 

Of  the  hundreds  of  volumes  in  English 
at  our  disposal,  some  from  a  German  lover 
are  translated  to  show  how  even  an  iron- 
handed  warrior  wrote  love-letters.  From 
the  voluminous  correspondence  of  this  kind 
indicted  by  the  great  Bismarck,  just  two  or 
three  extracts  are  made: 

(Not  dated:  written  about  the  end  of  December,  184.6.) 

To  HERR  VON  PUTTKAMER: 

MOST  HONORED  SIR:  —  /  begin  this  communi- 
cation by  indicating  its  content  in  the  first  sentence 
> —  it  is  a  request  for  the  highest  thing  you  can\ 
dispose  of  in  this  world,  the  hand  of  your  daugh- 
ter. .  .  .  [Had  others  belittled  Bismarck's  merits 
as  he  himself  did,  there  would  have  been  trouble!] 

I  beg  you  to  convey  to  your  wife  my  respectful 
compliments,  and  to  accept  kindly  the  assurance  of 
my  love  and  esteem.  BISMARCK 

"  ANGELA  MIA." 

What  a  different  view  I  take  of  everything  — 
not  merely  that  which  concerns  you  as  well  and 
because  it  concerns  you,  or  will  concern  you  also 


Appendix  213 

(although  I  have  been  bothering  myself  for  two 
days  with  the  question  where  your  writing-desk 
shall  stand) ,  but  my  whole,  view  of  life  is  a  new 
one,  and  I  am  cheerful  and  interested  even  in  my 
work  on  the  dike  and  police  matters.  This  change, 
this  new  life,  I  owe,  next  to  God,  to  you,  ma  tres 
chere,  mon  adoree.  Jeanneton  —  to  you  who  do  not 
heat  me  occasionally  —  like  an  alcohol  flame,  but 
work  in  my  heart  like  warming  fire. 

Bismarck  was  a  linguist,  and  therefore 
had  a  full  vocabulary  upon  which  he  drew 
heavily  for  terms  of  endearment:  "  Only 
beloved  Jeanette  Fredericke  Charlotte  Elea- 
nore  Dorothea, "  "  Johanna,  My  or  Our 
Better  Half,"  "  My  Angel,"  "  Dearest  and 
Belovedst,"  "  Czarna  kotko,  mila  duszo," 
'  Jeanne  la  mechante."  This  last  when  the 
post  was  delayed! 

DEAREST,  ONLY  BELOVED  JUANITA,  BETTER 
HALF  OF  MYSELF,  —  /  should  like  to  begin  my 
letter  with  every  possible  form  of  address  through 
which  I  may  win  your  favor,  for  I  am  in  sore  need 
of  your  forgiveness.  I  will  not  leave  you  to  guess 
the  reason  why,  lest  you  should  imagine  something 
worse  than  that  I  have  been  chosen  to  the  Landtag 
and  have  accepted  it. 

In  awful  contrast  to  the  dignity  and  pro- 
priety of  these  old-timers,  I  have  taken  the 
following  two  from  a  "  Manual  of  Social 


214      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

and    Business:    a    Guide    to    Correct   Writ- 
ing," published  only  twenty-one  years  ago. 

LOVE   AT   FIRST   SIGHT 

96 ST.,  June  i,  18 — 

DEAR  Miss  HAWLEY: 

You  will,  I  trust,  forgive  this  abrupt  and  plainly 
spoken  letter.  Although  I  have  been  in  your  com- 
pany but  once,  I  cannot  forbear  writing  to  you  in 
defiance  of  all  rules  of  etiquette.  Affection  is  some- 
times of  slow  growth,  but  sometimes  it  springs  up 
in  a  moment.  I  left  you  last  night  with  my  heart 
no  longer  my  own.  I  cannot,  of  course,  hope  that 
I  have  created  any  interest  in  you,  but  will  you 
do  me  the  great  favor  to  allow  me  to  cultivate  your 
acquaintance.  Hoping  that  you  may  regard  me 
favorably,  I  shall  await  with  much  anxiety  your 
reply,  I  remain, 

Yours  Devotedly 

BENSON  GOODCHILD 

REPLY 

604 ST.,  June  i,  18 — 

MR.  GOODCHILD: 

DEAR  SIR,  —  Undoubtedly  I  ought  to  call  you 
severely  to  account  for  your  declaration  of  love  at 
first  sight,  but  I  really  cannot  find  it  in  my  heart 
to  do  so,  as  I  must  confess  that,  after  our  brief  in- 
terview last  evening,  I  have  thought  much  more  of 
you  than  I  should  have  been  willing  to  have  ac- 
knowledged had  you  not  come  to  the  confession  first. 
Seriously  speaking,  we  know  but  little  of  each  other 
yet,  and  we  must  be  very  careful  not  to  exchange 


Appendix  215 

our  hearts  in  the  dark.  I  shall  be  happy  to  receive 
you  here,  as  a  friend,  with  a  view  to  our  further 
acquaintance.  I  am, 

Dear  sir, 

MARIAN  HAWLEY 

The  impudence  of  one  and  the  immodesty 
of  the  other  are  almost  matched  by  the  de- 
fective rhetoric  of  both.  As  warnings,  they 
should  serve  a  purpose;  as  examples  of 
"  Correct  Writing/'  they  cannot  be  too 
strongly  condemned. 

Does  the  world  move  so  very  fast,  after 
all?  Here  are  two  examples  of  a  formal 
and  rather  obsequious  style  of  letter  that 
can  easily  be  matched  by  some  composed 
and  written  recently;  yet  these  selections 
were  penned  nearly  three  hundred  years  ago. 

To 
SIR  H.  WOTTON 

October  the  4th.  1622,  almost  at  midnight 

SIR, 

All  our  moralities  are  but  our  out-works,  our 
Christianity  is  our  Citadel;  a  man  who  considers 
duty  but  the  dignity  of  his  being  a  man,  is  not  easily 
beat  from  his  outworks,  but  from  his  Christianity 
never;  and  therefore  I  dare  trust  you,  who  con- 
templates them  both.  .  .  .  Here  is  room  for  an 
Amen;  the  prayer  .  .  .  so  I  am  going  to  my  bed- 
side to  make  for  all  you  and  all  yours,  with 

Your  true  friend  and  servant  in  Christ  Jesus 

J.  DUNNE 


216     The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

SIR,  — 

I  know  not  which  of  us  wonne  it  by  the  hand, 
in  the  last  charge  of  Letters.  .  .  .  Our  blessed 
Saviour  multiply  his  blessings  upon  that  noble  family 
where  you  are,  and  your  self,  and  your  sonne;  as 
upon  all  them  that  are  derived  from 

Your  poor  friend  and  servant 

J.  DUNNE 

A  specimen  of  a  popular  style  at  the  time, 
but  rather  stilted: 

OLNEY,  ENGLAND,  June  16,  1760 
MY  DEAR  FRIEND: 

I  am  obliged  to  you  for  your  invitation,  but  being 
long  accustomed  to  retirement,  which  I  was  always 
fond  of,  I  am  now  more  than  ever  unwilling  to 
visit  those  noisy  scenes  which  I  never  loved,  and 
which  I  now  more  than  ever  abhor.  I  remember 
you  with  all  the  friendship  I  ever  professed,  which 
is  as  much  as  I  ever  entertained  for  any  man. 
I  love  you  and  yours. 

I  thank  you  for  your  constant  remembrance  of 
me,  and  I  shall  not  cease  to  be  their  and  your 
Affectionate  Friend 

WILLIAM  COWPER 
To 

JOSEPH  HILL,  Esquire 
LONDON 

Specimens  of  official  correspondence: 

WILLIAMSBURG,  Oct.  2,  1770 
SIR, 

Just  as  the  letter  accompanying  this  was  going 
off,  Col.  Matthews  arrived  on  parole  from  New 


Appendix  217 

York,  by  the.  way  of  head-quarters ',  bringing  your 
Excellency's  letters  on  his  subject,  with  that  of  the 
British  commissary  of  prisoners.  .  .  .  I  must,  there- 
fore, ask  the  favour  of  your  Excellency  to  forward 
the  enclosed  by  flag,  when  the  opportunity  offers, 
as  I  suppose  General  Phillips  will  be  in  New  York 
before  it  reaches  you. 

I  have  the  honour  to  be,  Sir, 

With  the  greatest  esteem, 
Your  most  obedient,  and  most  humble  servant, 
THOMAS  JEFFERSON 

To 

His  EXCELLENCY, 

GENERAL  WASHINGTON 

RICHMOND,  September  5,  1780 
DEAR  SIR, 

/  sincerely  condole  with  you  on  our  late  misfor- 
tune [Battle  of  Camden,  August  16,  1780},  which 
sits  the  heavier  on  my  mind  as  being  produced  by 
our  own  countrymen.     Instead  of  considering  the 
past,  however,  we  are  to  look  forward  and  prepare 
for  the  future.  .  .  .   We  shall  exert  every  nerve,  to 
assist  you  in  every  way  in  our  power,  being,  as  we 
are,  without  any   money   in   the    Treasury,  or  any 
prospect  of  more  till  the.  Assembly  meets  in  October. 
I  am,  with  great  esteem, 
Your  most  obedient  and  most  humble  servant 
THOMAS  JEFFERSON 

To 

EDWARD  STEVENS,  Esquire 


218      The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

Some  friendly  letters  —  old  and  modern  : 


NEWBURGH,  isth  August,  1782 
MY   DEAR    McHENRY, 

Let  me  congratulate  you,  and  I  do  It  very  sin- 
cerely, on  your  restoration  to  health.  ...  Do  not, 
my  dear  Doctor,  tease  your  Mistress  in  this  manner 
—  much  less  your  wife,  when  you  get  one.  The 
first  will  pout  —  &  the  other  may  scold  —  a  friend 
will  bear  with  it,  especially  one  who  assures  you, 
with  as  much  truth  as  I  do,  that  he  is  sincere. 
Adieu. 

Go.  WASHINGTON 

MONTICELLO,  April  16,  1811 
DEAR  SIR,  — 

/  felicitate  you  sincerely  on  your  destination  to 
Paris,  because  I  believe  it  will  contribute  both  to 
your  happiness  and  the  public  good.  Yet  it  is  not 
unmixed  with  regret.  What  is  to  become  of  our 
past  revolutionary  history?  Of  the  antidotes  of 
truth  to  the  misrepresentations  of  Marshall?  This 
example  proves  the  wisdom  of  the  maxim,  never 
put  off  to  to-morrow  what  can  be  done  to-day. 
But,  putting  aside  vain  regret,  I  shall  be  happy  to 
hear  from  you  in  your  new  station.  I  cannot  offer 
you  in  exchange  the  minutiae  of  the  Cabinet,  the 
workings  of  Congress,  or  underworking^  of  those 
around  them. 

•  •••••• 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON 
To 
JOEL  BARLOW,  Esq. 


Appendix  219 

CONCORD,  9  May,  1845 
MY   DEAR   FRIEND, 

/  send  you  two  or  three  little  pieces,  garnets  for 
your  "Diadem"  —  if  not  too  late.  But  I  think 
you  gave  me  into  May  in  your  first  communication 
on  the  subject,  for  the  latest  day.  My  wife  &f  my 
mother  have  been  a  little  uneasy  at  the  long  delay 
of  my  miniature  effigy  which  your  compatriot  Mr. 
Griswold  borrowed  of  the  former,  and  insist  that 
I  shall  inquire  if  it  is  safe,  or  has  it  some  time  been 
returned  in  our  direction  £sf  has  miscarried.  Will 
you,  if  you  meet  Mr.  G.,  say  as  much  to  him.  I  dare 
say  it  is  quite  safe  £sf  will  come  back  in  good  time. 
Yours  affectionately, 

R.   W.   E. 

[Ralph  Waldo  Emerson] 
To 
WILLIAM  HENRY  FURNESS,  Esq 

VAILIMA,  SAMOA,  Sept.  9,  1894 
MY  DEAR  CONAN  DOYLE,  —  //  you  found  any- 
thing to  entertain  you  in  my  Treasure  Island 
article,  it  may  amuse  you  to  know  that  you  owe  it 
entirely  to  yourself.  Your  "  First  Book"  was  by 
some  accident  read  aloud  one  night  in  my  Baronial 
'All.  I  was  consumed  I y  amused  by  it,  so  was  the 
whole  family,  and  we  proceeded  to  hunt  up  back 
Idlers  and  read  the  whole  series.  .  .  .  Enough  — 
my  heart  is  too  full.  —  Adieu. 

Yours  very  truly 

ROBERT  Louis  STEVENSON 

As  a  specimen  of  truly  "  chummy "  let- 
ters,  the  concluding   one   of  the   delightful 


22O     The  Letter  Writer's  Handbook 

series,  "  Marjorie  Daw,"  by  Thomas  Bailey 
Aldrich,  is  given.  As  almost  ideal  corre- 
spondence of  its  kind,  the  whole  series  is 
highly  to  be  commended. 

EDWARD  DELANEY  TO  JOHN  FLEMMING 

September  I, 

7  am  horror-stricken  at  what  I  have  done! 
When  I  began  this  correspondence  I  had  no  other 
purpose  than  to  relieve  the  tedium  of  your  sick- 
chamber.  Dillon  told  me  to  cheer  you  up.  I  tried 
to.  I  thought  you  entered  into  the  spirit  of  the 
thing.  I  had  no  idea,  until  within  a  few  days,  that 
you  were  taking  matters  au  serieux. 

What  can  I  say?  I  am  in  sackcloth  and  ashes. 
1  am  a  pariah,  a  dog  of  an  outcast.  I  tried  to 
make  a  little  romance  to  interest  you,  something 
soothing  and  idyllic,  and,  by  Jove!  I  have  done  it 
only  too  well!  My  father  does  n't  know  a  word 
of  this,  so  don't  jar  the  old  gentleman  any  more 
than  you  can  help.  I  fly  from  the  wrath  to  come  — 
when  you  arrive!  For  O,  dear  Jack,  there  is  n't 
any  colonial  mansion  on  the  other  side  of  the  road, 
there  is  nt  any  piazza,  there  is  nt  any  hammock, 
—  there  isn't  any  Marjorie  Daw!! 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Academic  degrees,  their  proper 

place,  83 

Address,  mode  of,  42 
Addressing  a  servant,  104 
Adult    acquaintances,    corre- 
spondence, 132 

Adult  relatives,  correspond- 
ence, 126 

Aldrich,  Thomas  Bailey,  132 
"Almanach  de  Gotha,"  80 
Ambassador,   how  addressed, 

83 

Ambiguity  in  social  corre- 
spondence, 107;  to  be 
avoided  always,  14 

"American  language,"  ob- 
jections to,  172 

American  teachers,  some  mis- 
takes, 107 

"Americanisms,"  usually  a 
misnomer,  171 

Answers  to  invitations,  99 

"Arabian  Nights,  The,"  a 
connected  series  of  tales,  29 

Association  invitations,  101 

Attention,  to  detail,  n;  to 
inquiries,  52 

"Autumn"  or  "Fall,"  169 

Auxiliary  verbs,  157 

Bankers'  style,  66 
Bible,   The   King  James,   its 
style,  185 


"Biscuit"  or  "Cracker"  dies, 
example  of  usage,  56 

Borough  officials,  correspond- 
ence with,  86 

"Brevity  the  soul  of  wit,"  28 

Brothers  and  sisters  as  critics, 
129 

Brusqueness,  42 

"Business,"   its    wide   scope, 

S3 

Business  college  training,  de- 
ficient, 38 

Business  correspondence,  33; 
importance  of  letters,  3 

Business  letters,  cablegram 
language  not  appropriate,  5; 
how  to  close,  45;  no  fixed 
rules,  15 

Business  men,  and  "style," 
174;  an  inclusive  term,  33; 
impatient  with  obscurity,  4 

Buying,  a  proposal,  treat- 
ment of,  13-14 

Cabinet  officers,  correspond- 
ence with,  82 

Cablegram  language  not  ap- 
propriate in  business  letters, 

5 
"Camphor,"  example  of  lack 

of  clearness,  64 
Carbon  copies  of  letters,  how 

treated,  34 


224 


Index 


Character  of  "chummy"  cor- 
respondence, 138 

Chesterfield,  Lord,  122 

Children  to  parents  and 
elders,  124 

Choppy  sentences  like  stac- 
cato music,  26 

C  oppy  style,  poor  excuse 
for,  4 

Classes  of  girls,  117 

Clean,  clear  sentences,  26 

Clear  reply,  53 

Clearness,  38,  208;  desirable 
in  social  correspondence, 
in 

Closing  of  business  letters,  34 

Club,  invitations,  101;  mem- 
bers, correspondence  with, 
102 

College  chums,  137 

Composition  in  business  let- 
ters, 4 

Compositor's  rules,  93 

Compound  verbs,  157 

Concise  reply,  53 

Conciseness,  defined,  20;  not 
curtness,  20 

Conclusion,  admonitory,  198 

Confusion,  of  matter,  72;  of 
subjects,  10 

Confusion  of  conciseness  and 
curtness  to  be  avoided,  21 

Consideration  for  correspond- 
ent's wishes,  16 

Consideration  for  personality, 
16;  for  whims,  18 

Consistency,  175;  in  form 
and  matter,  importance,  7 

Construction  of  public  laws, 
192 


Consul-General    and    Consul, 

how  addressed,  83 
Contrast,  illustrations  of,  178 
"Copy,"  treatment  of,  92 
Corelli,  Miss  Marie,  "Barab- 

bas,"  bad  style,  183 
Correspondence  between  ad- 
ult acquaintances,  132; 
adult  relatives,  126;  college 
chums  and  intimates,  137; 
'men  and  women,  135;  school 
boys  and  girls,  141;  youth- 
ful relatives,  128;  forms  of, 

137 
Correspondence,    initial,     its 

importation,  52;   should  be 

explicit,  13 
Correspondence,    reason    for, 

10;    social,  generally,   104; 

with  club  members,  102 
Correspondence,    love-letters, 

develops,  120 
Correspondents'  wishes  to  be 

considered,  16 

County  officials,  correspond- 
ence with,  87;  proper  titles, 

88 
"Cracker"  or  "Biscuit"  dies, 

example  of  usage,  56 
Curtness  defined,  20 
Custom    in    closing    business 

letters,  46 

Danger  of  being  too  stilted,  74 

"Dearest,"  example  of  doubt- 
ful words,  127 

Defects  of  business  college 
training,  38 

Derived  words  prevent  repe- 
tition, 190 


Index 


225 


Details,  attention  to,  11-12; 
desired  by  some  corre- 
spondents, 17;  in  friendly 
correspondence,  133 

Dictation,  best  results,  40; 
dangers,  39 

Diction,  faults  of,  69 

Dictionary,  comparison  of,  60; 
use  of,  151,  171 

Difference  between  "express" 
and  "say,"  22 

Diifuseness  permissible  in  so- 
cial correspondence,  21 

Diplomatic  correspondence, 
79;  importance  of  form,  81 

Directness,  importance,  36 

Display,  49 

"Economy  of  reader's  atten- 
tion," 177 

Elastic  English  language,  160 

Elderly  man's  love-letters, 
114-115 

Enclosures,  48 

English  language,  its  elastic- 
ity, 1 60;  its  spread,  161 

Epanados,  168 

Epanalepsis,  167 

Epizeuxis,  167 

"Esq."  or  "Mr.,"  use  of,  44 

Explanation  of  good  mechan- 
ical form,  33 

"Express"  and  "say,"  differ- 
ence, 22 

Expression,  1 86;  defined,  187 

Extravagant  language  objec- 
tionable, 128 

"Fall "or  "autumn,"  169 
Familiarity  between  men  and 


women,  135;  in  social 
correspondence,  100 

Family  correspondence,  im- 
portance, 123 

Faults  of  diction,  69 

Figures  of  speech,  in  business 
correspondence,  27,  179 

Finish,  186;  in  business  corre- 
spondence, 1 88;  in  public 
correspondence,  191;  re- 
lated to  general  and  social 
correspondence,  195 

First  person,  the,  use  of,  m- 

112 

Foreign  officials,  how  ad- 
dressed, 85 

Form,  7-9;  a  matter  of  self- 
defence,  19;  explanation  of 
good  method,  33;  in  social 
correspondence,  108;  should 
not  divert  attention  from 
subject,  8 

Franklin,  B.,  his  style,  181 

Friendly  correspondence, 
should  avoid  irrelevancy, 
141;  should  avoid  verbosity, 
140;  should  be  natural, 
139 

Friendly  criticism  of  composi- 
tion, 193 

Friendly  letters,  122;  should 
be  treated  carefully,  19 

"Froth  of  society,"  explana- 
tion, 30,  99 

Full  response,  53 

General     information     about 

markets,  59 
Girls,  classes  of,  117 
Gossip,  to  be  avoided,  130 


226 


Index 


Governor,  State,  how  ad- 
dressed, 91 

Grace  attained  by  periods  of 
some  length,  26 

Grammar,  143 

Grammatical  agreement,  158; 
sometimes  ignored,  4 

Grotesque  signature  inexcus- 
able, 47 

"Guess,  to,"  equal  to  "to 
think,"  169 

Handwriting,  clear,  47 
Hearn,  Lafcadio,  his  letters, 

134 

Heisch,  C.  E.,  on  clearness, 

200 
Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  on 

slang,  125 
Homonyms,  152 
How  a  business  man  should 

express  himself,  29 
How  to  close  a  business  letter, 

45 
Hunt,    William,    on    friendly 

criticism,  194 
Hyperbole    objectionable    in 

business  correspondence,  27 

Illustration  of  over-concise 
style,  28 

Importance,  of  consistency  in 
form  and  matter  28;  of 
good  mechanical  form,  33; 
of  intelligibility,  9-10;  of 
letters  in  business,  3;  of 
paragraphs,  23 

Increase  of  vocabulary  some- 
times a  danger,  165 

Index  numbers,  use  of,  34 


Information  imparted  in  so- 

cial correspondence,  in 
Initial  correspondence  should 

be  explicit,  13 

Initiative  in  love-letters,  114 
Inquiries,  attention  to,  52 
Instructive  letters,  63 
Intelligibility,  9 
Intimacy    in    friendly    corre- 

spondence, 134 
Intimates,  correspondence  be- 

tween, 137 

Introduction,  letters  of,  108 
Intrusion  of  personality,  71 
Invitations  and  answers,  79 
Involved  style,  188 
Irrelevant  matter,  73 

Kaines,  Lord,  on  construction, 

154 
King     James*    Bible,     style, 


Language,  Herbert  Spencer's 
definition  of,  191 

"Latin"  versus  "Saxon" 
words,  189 

Laws,  construction  of,  192 

Letters,  about  business 
matters  for  a  newspaper, 
94-95;  definition  of,  3; 
for  publication,  92;  friendly, 
treatment  of,  19;  impor- 
tance in  business,  3;  of 
introduction,  108;  rules, 
general,  3 

Letter-writing,  70;  beneficial 
to  composition,  144 

Lincoln,  A.,  "Gettysburg  Ad- 
dress," 182 


Index 


227 


"Literature,"    etymology    of 

the  word,  4 
LL.D.,  etc.,  examples  of  form, 

8 

Love-letters,  1 14  et  seq. 
"Lumber  order,"  example  of 

detail,  50-51 

Mandatory  letters,  65 
Marginal  references,  48 
Margins,  35 
"Marjorie  Daw,"  example  of 

friendly  letters,  132 
Matter,  confusion  of,  72 
Mechanical  form,  explanation 

of,  33 
Member  writes  to  his  club, 

etc.,  101 

Merchants*  style,  66 
"Messrs.,"  use  of,  43-44 
Metaphor,    objectionable    in 
business  correspondence,  29 
Military    officers,     how    ad- 
dressed, 83 
Minimum  of  words  desirable, 

21 

Minister,  diplomatic,  how  ad- 
dressed, 83 
"Mistress,"  169 
Mode  of  address,  42 
"Mr."  or  "Esq.,"  use  of,  44 

Natural,  be,  143 
New  style  of  love-letters,  119 
Notices  to  club  members,  how 
addressed,  103 

Obstacles  to  overcome,  68 
Official  correspondence,  79 
Old  style  of  love-letters,  119 


Omissions  dangerous,  6 

One  side  of  paper  in  official 

correspondence,  85 
One    subject    in    a    business 

letter  advisable,  13 
"Only"  often  misplaced,  148 
Ordinary  letters,  17 
"Out  of  court,"  settlement,  9 

Paragraphs,  23-24,  35 

Parentheses  to  be  avoided, 
189 

Parents  and  children,  corre- 
spondence, 122 

"Parerga  and  Paralipomena," 
Schopenhauer's,  5-6 

Particular  subject  in  business 
correspondence,  60 

Perfunctory  letters,  62 

"Period,"  in  literature,  defi- 
nition, 26 

Personality,  16,  71 

"Phrase-books,"  70 

Pitfalls  in  social  correspond- 
ence, 1 06 

Plans  for  social  meetings, 
101 

Politeness  not  a  lost  art,  37 

Polysyndeton,  1 68 

Preliminary,  consideration,  of 
subject,  15;  information 
in  diplomatic  correspond- 
ence, how  obtained,  79-80 

Prepositions,  149-150 

President,  The,  how  ad- 
dressed, 84 

Prolixity  objectionable,  23 

Propriety  not  to  be  over- 
stepped, 1 8 

Public  business,  77 


228 


Index 


Questions  should  be  carefully 
answered,  19 

Range  of  social  notes,  19 
Reading  one's  own  composi- 
tion aloud,  193 

Reason  for  correspondence,  10 
Rebuff,  administering,  197 
Recapitulation  of  letter  under 

reply,  51 

Recognized      differences      in 
American     and     European 
correspondence,  43 
Reference  books,  171;  recom- 
mended, 174 
Repetition  of  word  sometimes 

effective,  167 
Reply  should  be  clear,  concise, 

full,  53 

Right  word,  147;  like  key- 
stone, 153;  sometimes  diffi- 
cult to  pick,  150;  then 
others,  156;  varies  with 
circumstances,  147 

"Road-cart,"  example  of  con- 
fusion, 53-54 

"R.  S.  V.  P."  explained,  100 

Rules  governing  letters,  3 

Saving  time,  false,  4 

"Saxon"  or  "Latin"  words, 
189 

"Say"  and  "express,"  differ- 
ence, 22 

School  boys'  and  girls'  corre- 
spondence, 141 

Schopenhauer,   A.,   on   style, 

s-t 

Scope  of  letter  varies  with 
subject,  7 


Self-depreciation  in  love- 
letters,  caution,  115-116 

Selling,  an  offer,  treatment,  13 

Servants,  correspondence 
with,  104 

"Shall"  and  "will,"  154-155 

Short,  clear  sentences  in  busi- 
ness correspondence,  28 

Short  or  long  words,  159 

Short  sentences,  arguments 
for  and  against,  25;  incon- 
sistency of  authorities,  25; 
preferable  in  business  corre- 
spondence, 26 

Shorter  synonym  preferable, 
27 

Signature  should  be  legible,  47 

Simple,  danger  of  being  too 
much  so,  74 

Single  subject  in  business 
letters,  57 

Sisters  and  brothers  as  critics, 
129 

Skeat,  Rev.  Walter  W.,  his 
"Etymological  Dictionary," 
190 

Slang  always  objectionable, 
124,  142 

Social,  correspondence,  97; 
clearness  desirable,  1 1 1 ;  gen- 
erally, 104;  information  in- 
parted,  113;  pitfalls  of,  106 

Social  letters,  notes,  etc.,  108; 
form  in,  1 08 

Social  meetings,  plans  for,  101 

Social  notes,  range  of,  109 

Spacing,  35 

Spanish  language,  its  impor- 
tance, 60 

Specialists  in  business,  61 


Index 


229 


Specialized      correspondence, 

164 

Spencer,  Herbert,  definition 
of  language,  191;  his  "Phi- 
losophy of  Style,"  177 

State  and  U.  S.  officials,  corre- 
spondence with,  90 

State  officers,  correspondence 
with,  90 

"Statesman's  Year-book,"  80 

Stationery,  good  taste  in,  144; 
in  friendly  correspondence, 
133 

Stilted,  danger  of  being,  74 

Stilted  style,  example  of,  74- 

75 

Style,  definition,  176;  in  busi- 
ness letters,  4;    the  right, 
180;      varies    in    business 
correspondence,  15 
Subject,  of  letter  under  reply, 
50;  preliminary  considera- 
tion of,  15;  treatment  of,  12 
Subject  matter,  50 
Subjunctive  mood,  158 
Synonyms,  147;  use  of,  1 66 
System,  n 

Teachers,  American,  some  of 

their  mistakes,  107 
Technicalities,  when  they  may 

be  used,  14 
Technical  words,  162;    to  be 

avoided  in  general  or  social 

correspondence,  163 
Tendency  to  be  too  lengthy, 

68 
Tennyson,  Alfred,  choice  of 

words,  150 
Terseness  may  be  overdone,  1 6 


"The    Arabian    Nights,"    a 

series  of  tales,  29 
Third  person,  the,  use  of,  1 12- 

133 
Thought    given    to    business 

correspondence,  38 
Titles,  as  examples  of  form,  8; 

in  Europe,    105;    use  and 

abuse  of,  89 

Topics,  importance  of,  39 
Town  officials,  correspondence 

with,  86 
Treatment  of  subject,  12 

"Under   the   circumstances," 

173 
United   States  officials,   how 

addressed,  90 
United  States  senators,  90 
Use  of  the  first  person,  ni- 

112;    of  the  third  person, 

112-113 
Use  of  words,  145 

Various    styles    in    business 

correspondence,  59 
Verbosity  a  fault,  68,  1 88 
"Virginia,"    an    example    of 

county  officials,  88 
Vulgarity  unpardonable,  125 

"Want"  and  "wish,"  151 
Waste  of  correspondent's  time, 

unpardonable,  28 
"Wench,"  example  of  usage, 

170 
What  a  business  man  has  to 

say,  290 
When  a  business  letter  should 

stop,  29 


230 


Index 


Whims  to  be  considered,  18 

White  House,  The,  invita- 
tions from,  99 

Whom,  to,  are  you  writing? 
social,  106 

"Will"     and     "shall,"     154, 

155 

"Wish"  and  "want,"  151 
Woman's     love-letters,     117; 

their  tone,  118 
Word,  the,  adapted  to  special 

use,    1 60;     of    today    and 

formerly,  163 
Words,  desirability  of  a  min- 


imum,    21 ;      from     many 
languages,  161 

Writer's  original  information, 
54-55 

Young  man's  love-letters,  1 16- 
117 

Young  men,  caution  to,  140 

Young  women  corresponding 
with  men,  137 

"Yours  faithfully,"  popular, 
46 

Youthful  relatives,  their  corre- 
spondence, 128 


14  DAY  USE 

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